A Summer of Mysteries
by Nocturnal Introvert
Summary: Just when the Pines twins thought life in Gravity Falls couldn't get any weirder, Dipper starts having visions about the future. The twins learn about their family's past, uncover some mysteries, make some new unlikely alliances, discover an unexpected enemy, and realize that no one in the seemingly sleepy town is how they seem.
1. Chapter 1: Dreams, Dates, and Distasters

It was just another seemingly average summer evening in the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. The dim glow from the last remaining rays of sunlight cast spooky shadows on much of the town and a cool breeze was brought in from the falls, making it slightly chillier than usual. Other than that, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary just yet.

Dipper and his twin sister Mabel were in the attic of their great-uncle's 'tourist trap' the Mystery Shack. Dipper was laying on his bed reading, as usual, and Mabel was brushing her hair in front of their mirror. Her brother didn't think much of what she was doing, it was pretty normal for her to brush her hair for lengthy amounts of time. But when he heard a knock on the door and saw her jump up excitedly, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. As he glanced up at her he noticed she was wearing a sparkly striped sweater, silver dangly star earrings with a matching necklace, and she had a flower in her hair. She looked awfully nice, and it made him a bit suspicious all of a sudden.

"Where are you going?" He asked, his voice sounding a bit more shocked than intended.

"Oh, just a date; it's no big deal. He's not a bunch of gnomes or a tiny psycho, I promise." Mabel told him over her shoulder as she practically skipped to the stairs.

Mabel met her date at the side door and gave him a hug. He looked slightly older than her, with long dark brown hair and a plaid blue hoodie on. "Noah! Hi! I missed you!" She said, still hugging him tightly.

Instead of really greeting her back, he just smiled oddly. Something about him seemed kind of…off. Once she finally let him go, Noah started leading Mabel through the wooded area behind the Mystery Shack, heading toward the lake.

The twin girl shivered as a gust of wind ruffled her long brown hair. She grabbed her date's hand and let out a small gasp. "Wow! You're super cold!" She exclaimed.

Noah shrugged at her comment, but he appeared to be growing slightly uneasy all of a sudden. "Yeah, it is pretty chilly tonight." He told her.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else for our date? I mean, as much as I enjoy walking with you out here, I wouldn't want my handsome boyfriend being too cold." Mabel said with a wink.

"Oh, it's alright. I'm not too cold. Besides, I just wanted to make sure we were alone." Noah said with an almost devilish grin.

Mabel's cheeks turned bright pink and she let go of her boyfriend's hand to give him a playful punch on the arm. "You scalawag!" She giggled.

The dark haired boy suddenly turned to face her, still smiling his odd looking smile. "Oh, yes. I'm quite the scalawag indeed, hmm?" He purred. He brushed a strand of her hair behind her shoulder and ran a cool finger along her neck.

Mabel's eyes widened and she took a step back. "Whoa there, tiger. I know I'm irresistible, but well…this is only our first date. So.."

Noah let out a quiet chuckle, his eyes almost glowing in the dim light. "And it will be our only date." He said, taking another step toward her.

"Are you breaking up with me already, mister?" Mabel asked, puffing up her cheeks and pouting.

"I guess you could say that." The strange boy agreed, his upper lip curling back in a wide grin and revealing pointed canine teeth.

Mabel let out a gasp, trying to back away from him. But it was no use, he was too fast. In one swift motion, the distance between Mabel's neck and Noah's teeth was closed. The twelve year old girl's high-pitched scream echoed through the forest.

* * *

Dipper awoke with a start. He lurched up from his bed and looked across the room to find that his twin was still sound asleep. The young boy let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Just a dream…" He quietly reassured himself.

He spent the rest of the day trying to forget his nightmare, but his sister's scream just kept repeating in his head. Every so often he swore he caught a glimpse of the vampire's glimmering eyes watching him. Every time he looked at Mabel a strange sense of fear would surge through his body. Even if it was just a dream, he didn't want to lose his sister.

"Hey bro-bro, why you ackin' so cray-cray?" Mabel finally asked as she noticed Dipper looking at her strangely for what she guessed was the twentieth time that hour.

Dipper flinched and smiled nervously. "What do you mean? I'm not acting cray-cray or…whatever. Ha. It's-It's nothing, nothing at all." He replied, maybe a bit too quickly. He had never been all that good at lying. Of course, Mabel saw right through it immediately.

"Oh c'mon, you can tell me." His sister insisted, moving closer to him and giving him a warm, innocent smile. Dipper hesitated for a moment.

"I just…I had a nightmare that's all." He muttered.

Mabel gave him a quick hug. "Aww, poor Dippy. Next time you have a bad dream, you can sleep in my bed, like when we were younger." She said, trying to somehow comfort him.

Dipper was about to politely reject her offer, but he just kept thinking about his dream. Watching Mabel die somehow made him appreciate her 'weirdness' a bit more.

* * *

A few days after Dipper's nightmare, Soos invited the twins to go to the arcade with him. Dipper figured it would be a good way to get over his nightmare. Maybe he just needed to leave the shack for a bit. He and Mabel were playing Frog Time, when suddenly he got the feeling that something was watching them. He glanced over his shoulder to see a dark haired boy who looked slightly older than him wearing a plaid blue hoodie with the hood up. Dipper tried to hold in a gasp. He looked exactly like the vampire boy in his dream!

Noticing that Dipper was looking at him, the boy gave him a smile. For some reason, it sent shivers down Dipper's spine. "Hey, mind if I play next game?" The boy asked. Dipper didn't respond; he was too shocked to do much of anything, really.

Since Dipper wasn't paying much attention to the game anymore, he and Mabel ended up losing only a few seconds later.

"Aw man! What the hay-hay, bro?!" Mabel groaned, looking over at her brother accusingly. At that point, she finally noticed the boy standing behind them, and her face lit up. "Oh. My. Gosh. Hiya! I'm Mabel! What's your name?"

"Noah." The boy said with a grin, his eyes gleaming as soon as he looked at Mabel.

The young girl blushed and pointed toward the game. "Wanna play?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

"I think I need to go sit down…" Dipper muttered before turning and speed-walking toward the exit of the arcade. He sat down on the sidewalk outside and stared blankly ahead. "It's just a coincidence." He told himself. "He won't want to date Mabel, right? Plus, he can't be a vampire. Why would a vampire go to an arcade?"

Suddenly, Soos was kneeling down next to him. "Sup, little dude?" He asked.

"Soos, do you believe nightmares can come true?" Dipper asked with a sigh.

"Uh…I dunno, man. Why?"

"Well, I had this dream about Mabel dating some weird guy, and the guy just randomly showed up when we were in the arcade. I've never seen him before besides my dream! And now Mabel is flirting with him!" The younger boy explained, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Whoa, mind blowing. Maybe it's just some kind of weird coincidence?" Soos suggested.

Dipper sighed again and nodded hopefully. "I hope you're right…" He whispered.

* * *

A few hours after leaving the arcade, Dipper decided to do some reading to get his mind off things. He began to reread a few of the first pages in the mysterious book he had found that contained some of the mysteries of Gravity Falls. There was always something new to learn every time he opened it. He couldn't help but feel like he and the author had some type of connection, even though they'd never met. As he read through the page about floating eyeballs, he heard a knock on the door. With a gasp, he looked up from the book to see Mabel jump up excitedly and start skipping toward the stairs. She was wearing the exact same outfit from his nightmare.

"Where are you going?" Dipper asked breathlessly. Mabel blushed in response to his question.

"Oh, it's just a date. No big deal. He's-"Mabel began.

Dipper cut her off. "Mabel. Please don't go on that date. Just, trust me. I think I found something and…I just need you here with me. I need your help. Okay?"

Mabel huffed and rolled her eyes. "This again? C'mon, Dipper! Don't be so overprotective all the time. Let me follow my dream!" She said, her eyes lighting up. "Summer romance!" She sighed dreamily. With that, the slightly older twin skipped out the bedroom door and down the stairs.

Dipper followed as quickly as he could, and made it downstairs just in time to watch Noah and Mabel leave the Mystery Shack. "Oh no." He muttered, shaking his head. Dipper ran back up to the attic to retrieve his book, then followed his sister and her date through the woods at a safe distance. He skimmed through the book as he went, meanwhile keeping his eye on Noah as best as he could. Finally, he managed to find a page about vampires. "Weaknesses: Sunlight, silver, fire and a wooden stake to the heart." Dipper whispered. "Ugh! I don't have any of those! And there's no time!" He muttered in irritation. He looked up and found out that he had even less time than he thought. Mabel had just grabbed Noah's hand. A few moments later as Mabel let go of the boy's hand to give him a playful punch on the arm, Dipper noticed her star necklace making a soft jingling noise. It glimmered bright and silvery in the quickly fading light. "Silver! That's it!" Dipper gasped, proceeding toward the two determinedly and as stealthily as he could.

"Something like that." He heard Noah say.

"No! Get AWAY from her!" Dipper screamed, jumping forward and nearly ripping Mabel's necklace off her neck.

Noah hissed and took a step back.

Dipper held up the necklace threateningly then lunged at Noah. Noah was quick, but not quick enough. As soon as the silver came into contact with his skin, Noah let out another hiss and he became noticeably weaker almost immediately. Dipper took this opportunity to wrap the necklace around one of Noah's wrist.

Mabel looked completely shocked about the whole situation; she wasn't entirely sure what to think. "Dipper, what the heck are you doing?! I don't even…" She mumbled, looking confused.

"He's a vampire Mabel." Dipper explained. "Silver is his weakness, and he was just about to drink your blood!"

"What? No, Dipper!" Mabel gasped.

Dipper ignored her remark and pushed Noah against the closest tree, tying his arms to a low branch with the necklace. "Just wait till the sun comes up, blood sucker! That's for trying to make a meal out of my sister!" He turned to his twin and grinned victoriously.

"Dipper, you were following us?!" Mabel asked, looking upset. "You really couldn't trust me?"

Dipper tilted his head in confusion and looked at his sister questioningly. "Mabel, I just saved your life." He told her, motioning toward the vampire.

"That's not the point! You can't even let me go on one stinkin' date alone! And how do you know he's not a friendly vampire, huh?" Mabel asked, narrowing her eyes accusingly.

"I-Well…" Dipper stuttered, avoiding his sister's gaze. He was drawing a blank. How could he explain his nightmare to his sister? It's not like she's even believe him at this point.

"Exactly." The usually cheerful girl muttered, glancing at Noah one last time before sulking away.

* * *

"How did your date go, kiddo?" Stan asked with a smirk as Mabel walked past the living room on her way to her and Dipper's room in the attic. The young girl let out a little whimper. "What? Was it that bad? Did he break up with you or somethin'?" Her great uncle asked, raising an eyebrow. Usually he tried to stay out of the twin's business as best as he could, it's not like he cared anyway…well unless it was about something entertaining like a fight. But his niece looked so upset that it kind of worried him.

"Something like that." Mabel sniffled, walking into the room and plopping down on the ground near her great-uncle's chair.

Stan sighed and muted the TV. "Well, what happened?" He asked, trying not to seem too interested.

Mabel looked up at him and pouted. "Dipper followed us! He's so paranoid! A-and then him and Noah got in a fight. Now I'll never see Noah again, which stinks because he was totally my type! AND I lost my necklace!" She told him, holding back tears near the end. "And the worst part is: Dipper was actually right! Noah really was a bad guy." Mabel sighed. "I can never date normal boys…But I got mad at Dipper and we ended up fighting..."

Stan stared at his great-niece for a while, not sure how to respond to what she had told him. "Uh…Wow. Sounds like you had quite the date, Mabelangelo." He said finally, shaking his head.

"Ha, you don't even know the worst of it." Mabel grumbled, mostly to herself.

"Well, hey, at least you know your brother has your back, right? He's paranoid 'cause he cares about you. And you'll find a 'normal' guy someday, don't be in a rush." Stan told her with a shrug, turning the sound on the TV back on to avoid further conversation.

Mabel smiled and got up to give her grunkle a hug. "Thanks, Grunkle Stan!" She giggled, giving him a tight squeeze.

"Uh-no problem, kiddo." Stan mumbled, awkwardly patting her back as she hugged him. "Now get off me, my show's on."

* * *

Dipper trudged through the shack, feeling kind of bad about making Mabel so miserable, even if he did save her life. He glanced into the living room and saw Stan and Mabel watching television together. Mabel seemed a bit happier already.

"Uh... hey Mabel, can we…talk?" Dipper asked as he walked into the room.

Mabel shrugged and silently followed him up the stairs and to their bedroom.

"Look, I'm sorry about your date. It's just…I had this dream…" He told her, sitting on his bed with a sigh.

Mabel sat down next to him and gave him a questioning glance. "Uh-huh. Keep talking." She said, not sure how a dream had anything to do with her date.

"Well, I had a dream where you were getting ready for a date, and then Noah showed up. He brought you into the forest, drank your blood and killed you." Dipper explained, sighing and hiding his face behind his hands.

Mabel looked pale all of a sudden. "Not funny, Dipper. Knowing he was a vampire is one thing. But don't joke about stuff like this."

"I'm not joking!" Her brother snapped. "It was so real. And everything happened almost exactly the same as tonight…"

"W-when did you have the dream?" Mabel asked shakily, still not entirely sure she believed what he was saying.

"A few days ago, the day I told you I had a nightmare."

"Oh, right. Well, does it say anything about nightmares coming true in the book?" Mabel asked, pulling the book out from underneath Dipper's pillow.

"I already looked, there wasn't anything about it. This book is mostly about creatures. Maybe we should check again though." Dipper suggested. Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the door. It took the twins by surprise. Grunkle Stan hardly ever came up to the attic.

Mabel tried to shove the book back under Dipper's pillow, but she wasn't quite quick enough. Just as the door opened, the book slipped to the floor and opened to a random page.

"Huh? What's-"Stan began, leaning down to pick up the book. His eyes widened with shock.

"No!" The twins screamed in unison, but it was already too late.

"No. No, no, no! You two should not have found this! Especially so soon…" Stan groaned, rubbing his temples. "Here I was thinking I was doing my best to keep you out of it till you were older, thinking you guys might actually get to be normal for a while. But of course not. Ugh!" He shook his head. "You're losing it, Stan."

The twins exchanged a glance. "What do you mean we shouldn't have found it 'so soon'? You know what it is?" Dipper asked eagerly.

"You just realized you're losing it?" Mabel chimed in.

Dipper elbowed her.

"Wait, you mean you guys haven't figured it out yet?" Stan asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.


	2. Chapter 2: Pines Family Secrets

Stan sat across the room from the twins on Mabel's bed. He shoved her stuffed tiger aside and let out a deep sigh. "So, you wanna know the truth?" He asked.

Dipper nodded eagerly although he wasn't entirely sure what his great uncle was even talking about. 'The truth' seemed to be a pretty vague term at this point. After a day of nightmares coming true and defeating vampires, he wasn't sure what to think anymore.

"Yeah! What's up with the books?" Mabel asked, seeming entirely too cheerful about the situation.

Stan looked complacent for a moment before simply sighing again and looking down at the ground as he finally spoke. "Well…your grandfather and I used to be a lot like you two; we were always lookin' for adventure, you know, real curious. And we were twins too, so we were always together. Your grandpa, he was a lot like you, Dipper. He was always believing in crazy conspiracies and what-not." The old man cleared his throat and smiled as if remembering something, but the expression disappeared quickly and was replaced by his usual, dull and almost bored-looking expression. "We saw lots of crazy stuff in this town. So eventually, when we were a bit older and he was already married to your grandmother, he decided to write some of it down in these books." Stan nodded toward the book in his hand. "I guess he planned on giving it to your father someday or somethin'. I don't really understand his motives sometimes. Well, anyway, one day when he was working on finishing the sixth book he goes off on some adventure without me and he doesn't end up coming back." Stan sighed and shook his head. "We hadn't gone on any adventures for so long by that point, and he never even told me where he was going. I didn't know what had made him decide to go, but I knew it must've been pretty urgent. I looked for him forever, but I still have no clue where he ended up. Everyone thought that maybe he finally went off the deep end and drowned himself in the lake or something, but I knew that couldn't be true. I knew something out there must have gotten him."

"No one believed you?" Dipper asked, still working on taking in everything Stan was saying. He knew his grandfather must've been Stan's brother, but he didn't know they were twins. All he knew was that his grandpa had apparently died when the twins' father was really young, like Stan had said. And he never knew that his grunkle actually did know about all the weird stuff that happened in Gravity Falls.

"Trust me, I tried telling your father about the whole monsters and conspiracies thing, but he was an oblivious teenager. All he ever cared about was that girl he was crazy for, your mom. So he didn't listen to me. He thought I was crazy just like your grandpa. That's the problem with kids these days, if they don't want to accept that something is true they just completely throw any possibility of its truth right out the window and don't even give it a second glance." Stan explained.

"Wait just a second! If dad thinks you're insane, why did he send us here, huh?" Mabel asked, making a suspicious face.

"I'm getting to that!" Stan replied a bit snappily. "Jeez, kid. Soo, a few years after he moved away from Gravity Falls, your dad got a phone call. Turns out your grandpa's still alive. But he tells your dad that our family's in danger; that something or someone is out there and they're trying to get us. And after they get your grandpa, your dad is next."

"Wait, what?!" Dipper asked, standing up. Mabel seemed to be having a hard time wrapping her mind around everything, but Dipper had been listening with rapt attention.

"Ugh, do I need to repeat myself?" Stan asked, looking a bit irritated to be interrupted yet again. "You're lucky I'm even telling you the real truth…" He muttered under his breath.

"No, no. I'm listening. Just, what exactly is it? And what does it want with our family?" Dipper asked.

"Wish I knew, kid. Your grandpa apparently didn't have any time to give your dad all the information for some reason. Anyway, to keep you safe they decided to send you here. Our guess is that whatever it is, it isn't after me. Your grandpa was always the one with the 'special powers' or whatever. And your dad too, whether he wants to accept it or not. He has a habit of ignoring stuff like that. So, I made my house into a tacky museum so you two would think that all the weird stuff going on in this town wasn't too serious. After seeing all the cheap junk I have in here, I figured you'd think everything out of the ordinary was just a big joke. I think it helps with convincing the tourists too, although you can never be exactly sure what they even believe these days. Oh, and I tried to find your grandpa's books too, so that maybe when you were older you could kinda join the 'family business.' But he didn't hide them too well, obviously, because most of the books were already missing by the time I figured out where they should be. I only found the first one."

"Yeah, book three was in a pretty obvious place." Dipper chimed in.

Stan ignored his comment at the moment. "Well, you weren't supposed to find out about any of this stuff until you were older. That's why I was always telling you that it was a bunch of bologna whenever you talked about odd stuff going on here. Unless either of you suddenly had any special abilities or you were in danger, everything was supposed to stay a secret." He glanced at Dipper a bit accusingly.

"Wait, what kind of abilities?" Dipper asked, his face turning pale.

Mabel shot him a worried glance.

"I dunno, some sort of telepathic junk like that little troll Gideon, maybe?" His grunkle said with a shrug.

"So…let's just say one of us has some sort of dream or something, and it ends up coming true. Just as an example. Would that be something um…psychic or-or whatever?" Dipper asked, not looking Stan in the eye.

"Wait, what? Dipper, you tell me what you're talking about right now!" Stan demanded, jumping up off Mabel's bed and taking a few steps toward his great nephew.

"W-well, a few days ago I had a nightmare that Mabel went on a date with a vampire. And then tonight my dream came true. The entire afternoon went almost exactly like the dream." The younger twin confessed, still not daring to look up at his uncle.

"Oh wonderful, you are just like him… It's starting already." Stan groaned, shaking his head. "Wait, a vampire?! Guess it's harder to keep the stuff in this town secret than I thought…" The trio was silent for a moment. Dipper and Stan sat back down on the twins' beds. Everyone seemed to be deep in thought. Well except for Mabel, she was swinging her legs over the edge of Dipper's bed, looking quite content.

"Hey, you said you found book one? What's it about?" Mabel asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Special abilities. That's what your grandpa seemed to be into the most." Her great uncle informed her. He seemed a bit surprised that his niece would be the one to take any interest in it. Stan took a hardcover red book out from somewhere inside his suit and handed it to Dipper. "I haven't really had the chance to read much of it yet, but maybe one of you can use it make some sense of things." He made it clear that he was directing that statement at Dipper, but Mabel took no mind to it. The book looked almost identical to book three, aside from the number one in the center of the hand. Stan handed the third book back to Mabel, who set it down on Dipper's pillow and leaned closer to her brother so she could see what the first book was like. She'd only seen a few pages of the book Dipper had, but she was quite curious to find out more about the town. It excited her that they were staying in a town so full of mystery. And finding out her family had quite a few mysteries themselves made her feel like she was in some sort of movie!

Dipper opened the book and turned through the pages until he found the ones that were focused on psychic abilities involving visions. He skimmed through them until he found a few that stood out. Mabel tried to follow, but since she read a bit slower than him she seemed to be having a hard time. "Precognition is the ability to see a future event while asleep. And premonition is having waking visions of future events." He said aloud, mostly to himself. "And apparently premonition and precognition can kind of go hand in hand. It says here that sometimes abilities may start as precognition and eventually can develop into having both premonition and precognition or vice versa."

Stan nodded knowingly. "Just like your grandpa." He mumbled.

"Whoa! So cool! My twin has superpowers!" Mabel gasped excitedly.

Stan laughed. "I doubt it's as fun for Dipper as it is for you." He told her. "Well, that's what your grandpa always told me anyway."

"Maybe they're not superpowers exactly, but I actually think it's pretty neat." Dipper said, closing the book and looking thoughtful. "Maybe it's a bit freaky and kinda weird…okay, really weird. But still. It might be useful."

"Yeah, maybe." Stan agreed with a little nod. "After all, it did help you save your sister once already." He stood up and stretched after he spoke. "Well, I'm sure it's been a long day. I'll leave you two alone."

"Okay, goodnight!" Mabel said cheerfully as her great uncle walked out the attic door.

"Oh, and try to keep all this stuff a secret okay. I think I've done a pretty good job of keeping the townies and tourist pretty oblivious to everything, and I wouldn't wanna scare them too bad." Stan chuckled.

Mabel and Dipper nodded in agreement. Once Stan was downstairs, Mabel turned to Dipper. She put her hands on his cheeks and leaned her forehead against his, her wide eyes staring right into his. He looked kind of unsure of what it was she was doing, but he had learned not to question his sister at this point.

"This…is…so awesome! You're like a superhero, Dipper!" She exclaimed, letting go of Dipper and basically doing a back flip off his bed.

"That's what you think, sis." Dipper said with a little sigh.

* * *

**Very Delayed A/N: So, after reading back through this chapter I realize that there are quite a few problems with my little backstory, since there are most likely only three books, not six. But then again, I only wrote this for fun, and it's not like these are my actual headcanons about the show or anything. I'm not going to fix it, so sorry about my inaccuracy. **


	3. Chapter 3: Unexpected Visitors

Dipper hadn't slept much in the three days since Stan had explained the truth about the books and the twins' family. It was partially because he didn't want to have anymore nightmares about the future, but mostly because he wanted to find out more about the town by reading book one. So far, it wasn't much help. In fact, it seemed like it hardly contained any secrets about the town at all. However, it was relatively interesting. Book one was a lot less like a journal than three, it was mostly just factual. Regardless of the fact that psychic abilities had recently become relevant in his life, Dipper found that book three actually interested him more. It seemed like book three had more modern significance than book one. There were plenty of monsters in Gravity Falls, that was a sure thing, and Dipper wanted to find out as much as he could about each of them in case it could help him in the future. Knowing facts about psychic abilities didn't seem as important in comparison.

While reading about the different abilities, Dipper hoped that his visions were his only psychic ability. In a way, he kind of wished that he was normal. Even if his abilities could help people, sometimes it seemed like it would be better not to know the future. Knowing your future tends to make you want to change it, and Dipper had experienced that before. Granted it had been with a different tense, the past, but he figured the rule still applied.

The past few days, while he was supposed to be helping in the gift shop, Dipper had gotten into the habit of reading at the Shack. He had even borrowed a magazine from Wendy so he could read one of the books behind the magazine cover without being questioned. Then, not only could he read about the town's secrets all day, but he could spend some time with Wendy too. It was hardly 'quality time', since Dipper was focused on reading and Wendy was busy slacking off at work. Nonetheless, he still loved being around her. Compared to everything else going on in his life, Wendy seemed so normal. He always found her laidback attitude to be extremely comforting. She seemed to know that Dipper wasn't actually reading a magazine about Indie Rock hits and the latest Hipster trends, but she didn't bother to ask him about it. She figured that it wasn't really any of her business what her younger friend was into reading, but she was kind of flattered that he'd pretend to have a similar interest as her.

Dipper was tempted to talk to Wendy about some of the things that had gone on recently, like maybe telling her about the whole situation with the vampire or something just to start a conversation. He thought she would probably believe him, since she had seen the ghosts in the haunted convenience store after all. But at the same time, he figured she hadn't really given much thought to what had happened that night at Dusk2Dawn, and he didn't want to change her view on the town or himself. As long as she wasn't in danger, he thought it would be best for her to think that both he and the town were pretty normal.

Today was no different than any of the previous days. Except for the fact that as Dipper and Wendy both sat behind the counter reading, Wendy's boyfriend decided to come to the Shack to pay her a visit.

"Hey babe." Robbie said as he strutted into the gift shop, sporting a new pair of super-tight jeans.

Wendy looked up from her magazine and Dipper could immediately see the change in her emotions. A little glimmer appeared in her bright green eyes, and she suddenly stood up from where she was reclining behind the register. Just from the way Wendy looked at Robbie you could tell he was something special to her, though Dipper had no clue why. He constantly found himself wishing Wendy would look at him the way she looked at Robbie.

"Hey Robbie." The red haired teen leaned across the counter to give her boyfriend a quick kiss.

Dipper couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, especially since the kissing couple was only about two feet away from him. He pretended to focus on his magazine, but it was like a horrible train wreck that he just couldn't look away from.

After one of the two finally backed away from the kiss, Robbie smiled at Wendy and ran his hand through his shaggy, jet-black bangs.

"So, you wanna hang out after you're done with work?" He asked, suddenly seeming a bit less confident of himself, as he constantly did when he was around Wendy. Even though they were dating now, he always seemed to feel as if he was risking rejection when asking Wendy to hang out with him.

She just shrugged, the tiniest hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth despite her attempt to appear indifferent. "Sure, why not. I don't think I have any plans." She told him.

Robbie grinned victoriously. Suddenly, his attention turned to Dipper. He looked at the magazine the younger boy was 'reading' and raised an eyebrow.

"You're into indie rock bands?" The teen asked.

Dipper glanced up from his 'magazine' and nodded slowly. "Uh…Wendy let me borrow this magazine, and then I checked out some music and loved it. So, yeah, I am." He said with a shrug.

Robbie squinted as he looked at the cover of the magazine, and suddenly gave Dipper an even more suspicious look than before. "You know, I think I own that magazine too. And I don't remember it being that thick. Mind if I check it out?"

"Robbie, c'mon, let the kid read. Don't bug him. Maybe I just have the collector's edition of the magazine or something?" Wendy suggested, giving Dipper a knowing look.

Ignoring his girlfriend's comment, Robbie tried to grab the magazine from the younger boy. As he did, the magazine's cover fell off the book Dipper was actually reading, book three. Dipper wasn't exactly sure what he expected Robbie's response to be, but it certainly wasn't this. The dark haired boy's face turned even paler than normal, and he had an expression that was an odd mix of confusion and shock.

"What the-" Robbie said breathlessly. He looked very serious all of a sudden, as if something urgent was happening. "Wendy, be right back. I just uh- need to ask Doctor Funtimes here a question real quick."

Wendy looked a bit worried, but she just dismissed the two of them with a wave of her hand and went back to lounging behind the register as Robbie dragged a very confused Dipper out the door.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the Mystery Shack Mabel was watching the 'Why You Ackin' So Cray-Cray?' show with her pet pig, Waddles. She was lying upside down on the couch, absentmindedly running her hands through her long, curly hair. Instead of enjoying the show as she normally did, it was sort of bumming her out. This particular episode of 'Why You Ackin' So Cray-Cray?" seemed to be mainly about relationship advice. Usually, she would have loved to watch something like this, but at the moment she just wasn't in the mood. Mabel changed the channel, only to find that a cheesy romance movie was on. She had tuned in just in time to see the seemingly-perfect couple kiss and get their fairytale ending. With a sigh, Mabel turned off the television and sat upright. She grabbed Waddles and pulled him onto her lap, cuddling him tightly.

"I just want a nice love life with a normal boyfriend." She whined. The young girl sat in silence for a while, burying her face in Waddles' short pinkish fur. A loud knock on the back door broke the silence, taking Mabel by surprise. She jolted up, setting Waddles back on the ground a bit roughly. "Coming!" She announced. She rushed toward the door, hoping that maybe it was one of her friends stopping by to visit her. She really needed some girl time right now. Even though much more important things than her fail of a date had occurred in the past few days, Mabel just couldn't seem to get her mind off it.

Sadly, her visitor wasn't Candy, nor was it Grenda. And it wasn't a cute, normal seeming boy either. It was none other than Gideon Gleeful, one of her sworn enemies. Mabel didn't necessarily hate anyone, but she strongly disliked some of Gideon's actions in the past, and she hadn't been particularly fond of him since.

"Mabel! How nice to see you! You're lookin' well this morning." The short, chubby boy practically sang. He seemed entirely too cheerful.

"Ack! Gideon?!" Mabel sputtered, nearly cringing in disgust. The brunette looked about ready to slam the door in Gideon's face. He knew he would have to redeem himself quickly.

"Now, Mabel, how 'bout we let bygones be bygones and forget about the unfortunate misunderstandings of our past?" He suggested.

"You tried to kill my brother, you shrunk both of us, and you're a tiny psycho." Mabel stated matter-of-factly.

Gideon smiled nervously. "Well I just came here to check up on ya, Mabel. A little birdy told me you had a recent heartbreak, so I wanted to make sure you were alright." He whispered, a slight blush creeping onto his pale, freckled face. He expected Mabel to have some pity for him after this line, and hoped to woo her with his charm and adorableness as he so often did to others, but he didn't quite get the reaction he was anticipating.

"I'm fine. I have Waddles to keep me company." Mabel grumbled.

As if on cue, her loyal pig appeared by her side, curiously sniffing at Gideon's shoes.

"Well, that sure sounds delightful!" Gideon whispered, seeming awestruck as he looked down at the pig that was now nibbling at one of his shoes. He glanced back up at Mabel and cleared his throat. "Mind if I come in for just a moment and have some refreshments? I'm rather parched from the trip over here."

Mabel groaned and rolled her eyes in irritation. She was not in the mood for this today. "Alright, fine, whatever. But I'm watching you, little man." She told him, opening the door a bit wider and stepping aside.

"Such a charmer, as always, Mabel." Gideon murmured, walking past her and giving her a huge smile.

He followed her into the kitchen like a puppy following its master, Waddles right beside him.

A bit hastily, Mabel set two glasses on the table and poured some lemonade into each. Almost immediately, Gideon took a huge sip.

"Well, this is some mighty fine lemonade! Would you mind getting me a couple ice cubes, my marshmallow?" He asked, giving Mabel an innocent smile.

Mabel grumbled something to herself, but nonetheless turned around to fulfill Gideon's request. "I'm not your marshmallow anymore, Gideon." She huffed, swinging the freezer door open angrily and nearly breaking its cheap hinges.

As she was attempting to get the ice out of the ice cube tray, Gideon quickly reached into a pocket inside his suit jacket and pulled out some sort of small, glass bottle. Glancing at Mabel every so often as he did, he unscrewed the lid and poured a pink liquid into the girl's drink. A small cloud of pink smoke rose from the glass as the fluid dissipated into the lemonade.

Only seconds later, Mabel was back, dropping a few ice cubes into Gideon's glass. "There." She muttered, sitting down across from him.

Gideon was smiling at her oddly, as if he was waiting for something.

"You're creeping me out more than you usually do." She told him, cautiously lifting her glass of lemonade to her lips. Just as she took the first sip, her eyes fluttered shut and her glass slipped from her hand, a miniature explosion of lemonade covering the table and dripping onto the floor. Mabel groaned and half slipped, half stumbled out of her chair and onto the ground. She hit the kitchen floor with a quiet thump. Gideon let out a surprised gasp, leaping up from his seat.

* * *

"Where did you find this?" Robbie demanded, lifting Dipper off the ground by the collar of his shirt and holding the book up to his face.

Dipper was trying his best not to look scared or intimidated, but in reality, he was freaking out. He had no clue what Robbie was even talking about, but the teen looked about ready to beat him to a pulp.

"I-I found it in the woods. Chill out. Why does it even matter?" The younger boy asked, almost pleadingly.

Robbie glared at him, but set him back down on the ground. "Because I have one just like it." He stated, crossing his arms.

"You have one of the books?!" Dipper asked in shock.

Robbie scoffed. "I was just going to say the same about you." He grumbled. Robbie flipped through the pages of the book, and his eyes widened, his face a mix of surprise and excitement. "Oh man, this is exactly what I need!"

"What are you even talking about? Just give my book back already." Dipper demanded, becoming impatient.

Robbie raised an eyebrow, sneering at the younger boy. "Ha! No way! If you want it so bad, you'll have to fight me for it." He announced smugly.

Dipper's mouth dropped. Somehow, Robbie always managed to become more and more of a jerk each time Dipper saw him. Their Cold War pact had resulted in tons of quiet insults and threats to each other behind Wendy's back so far. But they did their best to behave when their red haired love was around.

"Why would I fight you? You know how much Wendy hates fighting…Just give me the book-"

Robbie interrupted him with a cruel-sounding laugh. "Or I guess you could just go crying to my girlfriend instead, either way." He mocked.

All of a sudden, just after Robbie spoke, Dipper's vision started to blur. Everything began to gradually get dimmer.

"Whoa. Uh…are you alright, kid?" Robbie asked, seeming a bit worried. It was the last thing Dipper heard before everything went black.

When Dipper opened his eyes, Robbie was advancing toward him quickly and menacingly, his fist pulled back as if he was about to hit him. Since Dipper had hardly any experience fighting, he had no clue how to defend himself. He flinched, and just as Robbie's fist was about to make contact with his jaw, the door to the shack opened. Right after Robbie punched Dipper, he turned to find Wendy standing in the doorway, completely shocked and appalled.

"You guys are fighting?! You know how much I hate it when guys fight!" She yelled. Her voice was so full of disappointment that Dipper hung his head in shame even though he was the one who had gotten hit. "I expected better from my boys…" While Wendy spoke, everything started to fade out until Dipper found himself surrounded by nothing but darkness once again.

* * *

Gideon knelt down beside Mabel, his face even whiter than normal, nearly matching the color of his hair. The brunette girl was sprawled out on the floor awkwardly, obviously unconscious.

"She was supposed to fall in love with me, not fall on the floor!" Gideon bellowed, standing up and pacing around the kitchen. He fidgeted with the new amulet on his bolo tie for a moment as he struggled to figure out an explanation for what had happened. "Perhaps I just used a bit too much of the potion…But I followed the instructions perfectly! The book has never been wrong about anything before! Heck, I've never been wrong about anything before!" He let out a deep sigh and buried his face in his soft, chubby hands. "And what, exactly, am I supposed to do now?"

Little did he know that, despite how she appeared, Mabel actually was conscious. She hadn't even really taken a sip of the lemonade at all. She knew she might act silly sometimes, but she certainly wasn't stupid…in the unintelligent type of way, anyway. She could tell something was up with her drink, especially since she had heard Gideon pouring something into it as soon as she had turned her back. But, for some reason, she had expected that he was trying to poison her or something and was rather surprised to find out it was a love potion. She was under the impression that Gideon was over her already. Really, what sane person shrinks the girl they love down to the size of a gummy koala? For future reference, Mabel made a mental note to remind herself that Gideon obviously wasn't sane, and he was the exact type of person to do such a thing. As if she needed the reminder.

She continued to lie on the ground for a while. She wasn't exactly sure what she was hoping to gain from pretending to be knocked out, but so far it was working well enough. As long as she kept Gideon distracted long enough for Dipper to get home, that was all she cared about. Mabel had heard Gideon blabbering to himself about how he learned about the love potion from some type of book. She instantly guessed that maybe he had one of the missing books. That would actually explain a lot about the little psycho. Mabel tried to figure out a plan, but all she knew so far was that it would require the presence of her twin. Without him, she was pretty much doomed no matter what. Gideon had a new jade amulet on his bolo tie, and it seemed just about as magical as his last one. If she 'regained consciousness' suddenly and tried to escape, he'd be able to use the amulet's magic on her once again. And this time, her twin wouldn't even be there to help her out. Just then, an idea came to her.

Mabel let her eyes flutter open, and she let out a quiet groan of pain. Falling to the floor actually had hurt a bit. She couldn't fake that, she wasn't a very good actress. And, actually, it seemed near impossible to pretend to pass out with elegance.

When Gideon heard her, he rushed back to her side. "Mabel! What happened?!" He asked, trying to sound as if he had nothing to do with the situation.

A huge fake smile was plastered across Mabel's face as soon as she saw him. She sat up quickly. "Hello, pretty!" She cooed, patting Gideon's head and ignoring his question. "Oh my, you have such soft hair!" Mabel giggled a bit and forced herself to blush. She continued to run her hands through his hair, smiling at him expectantly.

Gideon stared at her in shock, unsure of how to react.

"Excuse me for just one moment, darlin'." He told her with a polite smile. He turned his back to her, and let out a quiet squeal. "It worked! My goodness, it actually worked!"

Behind him, Mabel's face was full of disgust. But as he turned back in her direction, she gave him a sweet smile and fluttered her eyelashes.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?" She asked, playing with her hair flirtatiously.

* * *

Everything started to fade back in again, yet Dipper felt no pain in his jaw. Robbie wasn't even anywhere near him, but he was looking at him wide-eyed and anxiously. Everything was just as it had been before Dipper had blacked out the first time. "Whoa." He whispered.

"What the heck?!" Robbie asked, looking more confused than anything.

"You think I have any clue what just happened?" Dipper retorted. The younger boy sighed and shook his head. "Robbie, listen. Don't ask me how I know this, but Wendy will be coming out that door any moment. And if she even thinks we're fighting, just imagine how disappointed she'll be in both of us."

"Dude, are you on drugs or something?" Robbie asked him skeptically. "No, really, what is wrong with you?"

Just then, the door to the Mystery Shack opened. Wendy casually strolled over to the two of them, looking as carefree as ever.

"Hey guys. What are you two doing out here?" She asked, walking closer to Robbie and leaning against his shoulder affectionately. "Man, the Shack is totally empty today and I am soo bored." She groaned.

Robbie was staring at Dipper in silent stupefaction.

Wendy let go of him and gave him a questioning look, unsure of what was going on.

"Uh-Hey, Wendy. We're just…you know, hanging out." Dipper stammered, trying his best to seem normal.

Wendy smiled, looking impressed.

"Yeah, babe; me and Dipper are good pals. Just doin' some guy stuff outdoors, no big deal. You probably wouldn't understand." Robbie added with a shrug.

"Alright." Wendy said, ignoring Robbie's last cynical comment and nodding her approval. "It's really nice to see my boys getting along so well, as usual. You guys seem really close lately." She smiled brightly at the two of them.

Robbie had to use all his willpower to keep himself from laughing hysterically. If only Wendy knew about the Cold War going on every time she looked away.

"Well, I should probably get back to 'work' in case Stan decides to check up on me. You guys have fun out here in the parking lot or great outdoors or whatever you've decided to call it. I'll see you later, Robbie." She gave her boyfriend a quick hug and shuffled lazily back toward the Mystery Shack.

As soon as she was inside, Dipper let out a loud sigh of relief. "Can I have my book back now?" He pleaded.

Robbie took the book back out of his oversized hoodie pocket where he had been stashing it for the time being and shook his head. "There's no way you're getting out of this that easily, kid." He growled. "How did you know Wendy was going to come out of the Shack like three seconds before she did?"

Dipper looked at him as if he didn't understand the question. "It was just a lucky guess. I mean, really. When does Wendy ever really do her job?" The younger boy asked with a shrug.

"Alright, I see your point. But still, something is going on here." Robbie crossed his arms and glared at Dipper, his eyes full of suspicion.

"Hah. What? No way! I mean, metaphorically speaking, why would I just randomly have visions of the future? Who does that? Not me, that's for sure!" Dipper rambled, laughing nervously. As usual, especially when he was under pressure, he absolutely failed at lying.

"What?!" Robbie gasped. Obviously, he had concluded some things from Dipper's rambling. "You have one of the books, and you have visions? You've got to be kidding me." The teen shook his head. "Whatever, I'm gonna go before things get any weirder. I've got a lot of reading to do and, honestly, I'm not a big fan of reading." With that, Robbie turned to walk toward his van.

Dipper followed close behind him, though he had basically given up hope of getting his book back anytime soon.

"Wait, Robbie. Promise you won't tell anyone about all this, especially Wendy." He begged.

Robbie looked at him over his shoulder. "You think I'd tell her?" He asked with a quiet laugh. "Listen, smart guy, why do you think I want this book?"

"Because you're a big jerk who loves to condescend me?" Dipper replied under his breath.

Robbie shot him an icy glare. "Well, maybe that too. But, uh-if you haven't already figured it out, I'm…not human. Okay? So there." The older boy grumbled as he hopped into his van. He hoped this would shut Dipper up, but he had no such luck.

"Wait, what?!" Dipper gasped.

Robbie rolled his eyes. He really didn't want to explain the whole thing, especially to this kid.

"Listen, I have no shadow. That's pretty much a huge giveaway that something's not right about me. Plus, how do you think I barely got hurt from being attacked by a stinkin' video game character who threw me onto a metal jungle gym?" He snapped, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I just need this stupid book long enough to figure out what I am, alright?"

Dipper didn't even know how to respond. Pretty much all he knew at the moment was that this week was going to make him rethink absolutely everything.


	4. Chapter 4: Distractions and Disbelief

On his way back into the shack, Dipper's mind was racing. He really didn't want to believe that what he had just heard was true, yet the dangers of dismissing it entirely were far too high. The fact that Robbie wasn't a human completely and utterly shocked him. Honestly, it confused him more than any of the discoveries he'd previously made in the town. Dipper wondered how he hadn't figured it out on his own. He knew almost everything about all things odd and supernatural, so naturally he would usually be the first to notice when something was off. But this time, apparently, was different. Of course Dipper could tell something wasn't quite right about Robbie, but he had instantly figured that the teen's cynical attitude was the cause of any bad vibes he was giving off. Plus, he was dating Dipper's crush, so of course there would be some tension there. He'd disregarded anything abnormal simply as jealousy or hatred of the older boy.

If Robbie wasn't a human, then what was he? He didn't really seem like he could be any type of mystical or supernatural creature that Dipper knew of. He actually seemed decently normal, aside from the aforementioned bad vibes. He seemed like any other teenage jerk, completely human. But if Robbie wasn't a human-if he really was something else- then would he try to hurt Wendy? What if he was just using her and pretending to like her so he could eat her brain or something? That was what Dipper was most worried about. There were just so many unanswerable questions, especially since he didn't have any idea what Robbie was. It seemed like the entire set was null.

As Dipper walked into the Mystery Shack, he was in a trance. There were so many things on his mind. All of a sudden, as he was passing the kitchen, a familiar voice forced him out of his thoughts. He stopped in his tracks and slowly began to turn around, hoping he was just imagining things.

"Oh my goodness! Well, yes, actually. I have! But coming from you, my sweet, it certainly means the most!" He heard the Southern accented voice say.

Dipper glanced into the kitchen to find not only Gideon, but his sister as well. And she was oddly up close and personal with their 'sworn enemy'. Dipper couldn't believe his eyes. Today was just full of surprises. He stomped into the kitchen, glaring at the younger boy who was hovering over Mabel. She was currently sitting on the ground, leaning up toward Gideon and playing with her hair flirtatiously.

"Mabel, what the heck is going on?" Dipper huffed.

Mabel flinched as she saw her brother, but made no attempt to distance herself from Gideon.

"Why if it isn't my dear old pal, Dipper Pines!" Gideon exclaimed, turning to face him. Almost all signs of former hatred were missing in his seemingly sweet voice, but the twisted smile on his face pretty much said otherwise.

"What are you doing here, Gideon?" Dipper growled, his glare becoming fiercer yet.

"Isn't it obvious? I just stopped by to apologize to your sister." The other boy said plainly. He inspected his nails for a split second, as if they were more interesting than the ongoing conversation. "And, it seems she still has feelings for me." Gideon added, blushing and looking over toward Mabel expectantly.

Mabel caught her brother's gaze and gave him a look that she hoped would explain everything. "Oh Gideon, love is so much more than just feelings!" She said with a giggle, back to her love struck act for the first time since she noticed Dipper had entered the room.

Gideon's cheeks darkened a bit. He glanced at Dipper as if to prove his point.

"This cannot be happening…" Dipper breathed. He had no time for this and he wasn't even sure what was going on, but it was kind of freaking him out. It appeared that his sister needed his help, though, so he decided to play along with her little charade. But it certainly would be helpful to get an explanation soon. "Listen Mabel, you know I want what's best for you. And I just can't let my sister date a creep like Gideon, okay?"

"But Dipper! I really do love him! If you even care about me one bit you'll understand!" Mabel whined, a bit over-dramatically.

Dipper looked between Gideon and Mabel and shook his head. "Gideon, do you mind if I talk to Mabel alone for just a sec?" He asked.

"Why go ahead! Do as you please, I'm sure my sugarplum has her mind set." Gideon said with a shrug, smiling a bit smugly and walking over to the table to sit down. He put his feet on the table and gave Dipper an almost menacing look.

Dipper tried to hide his frustration.

"He'll never tell me how to feel!" Mabel promised. She sighed loudly as Dipper dragged her from the kitchen and toward one of the shack's museum exhibits that was far enough away to be out of hearing range. As soon as they left the kitchen, Mabel instantly looked less energetic, and a lot less like she was in love. If anything, she looked extremely relieved to see her twin.

"Alright, explain." Dipper demanded, grabbing Mabel by the shoulders and staring into her eyes anxiously.

Mabel let out a deep sigh, this time sounding more exhausted than love stricken. She avoided meeting her brother's gaze. "Gideon. Love potion. Didn't work. Second book. I'm acting. And he's so…ugh!"She whispered tiredly.

Dipper's eyes widened.

"I thought we were done dealing with him, but of course nooo."

"Wait, wait, what about book two?" Her brother asked, letting go of her but still looking into her eyes desperately. Right now, any information about the books was all he really cared about. As much as he loved his sister, he had no time for dealing with her guy problems when so much else was going on.

"Gideon has it. He used it to make a love potion, but I didn't fall for it. I pretended to drink it, so now he thinks it worked." Mabel clarified, seeming a bit less exhausted now, but starting to sound irritated. She looked up at her brother, her large brown eyes meeting with his identical ones almost like she was looking into a mirror. They stared at each other for a moment, and they could see the distress and anxiety in one another's eyes.

Dipper glanced away and distanced himself from Mabel a bit, trying his best to sympathize with her. Obviously, he wasn't the only one who had a rough day. "And what, may I ask, were you planning to achieve through that?" Dipper asked as calmly as possible.

"I just wanted to stall him until you got here! He has some sort of new magic amulet thingy." His sister explained.

Dipper groaned and shook his head. "Of course." He muttered, mostly to himself. He turned away from Mabel and began to pace thoughtfully. After a moment of planning, he turned back toward his twin. She looked at him hopefully. "Well, what do you want me to do?" He asked. Though he had already come up with a plan, it was poorly developed and he couldn't bring himself to work on it any longer. It certainly wasn't fail proof. If Mabel had any ideas, they would be incredibly helpful.

"I dunno…You're Dipper. You always have an idea. Right?" Mabel pointed out.

Dipper huffed. "Well, alright, I do have a plan. But, it may or may not work out. Just…bear with me here, okay?" Dipper told her. "Maybe if you try to act creepily obsessed and overly attached for a while we can get Gideon out of our hair for at least long enough to come up with a better plan. Guys, even creeps, don't tend to like clingy girls. Plus, the love potion does have to wear off eventually. Most, if not all, basic spells are generally temporary. Then you can call it off and he'll just think the potion wore off." He explained.

Mabel let out an exasperated sigh and gave a slight shrug at his suggestion. "Any plan is better than no plan." She agreed, trudging back toward the kitchen. "Leave it to me to have more abnormal, boy problems…" She added quietly.

Dipper followed after his sister, and he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed with himself for not being able to come up with a better plan. Mabel was right, he always had a plan. In fact, he usually had a whole list of them. But his sister's boy problems were way out of his league at the moment, especially with so much else on his mind. The main factor holding him back, besides his distraction, was the amulet. Attempting to destroy it would just be far too risky at the moment. The last thing Dipper wanted was to risk getting his sister hurt. But if Gideon was in love with her, especially if he thought she loved him back, Mabel would be safe…right?

As the twins reentered the kitchen, they found Gideon sitting patiently at the table with a warm smile on his face. From the way he looked, you would have never guessed that he was completely insane and had just used a love potion on his unrequited love. He looked normal, innocent even. Mabel ran over to him, her eyes glistening with joy. Dipper had no clue how Mabel could make herself look like that for someone like Gideon, especially when she had seemed so annoyed and tired just seconds before. He supposed his sister was just a good actress with enough natural charm and flirting experience to pull it off.

"Dipper says he won't get in the way of our love anymore!" Mabel practically cooed, her voice full of bliss.

Gideon's smile widened, this time aimed mainly toward Dipper. "Why thank you, Dipper Pines! That is so very kind of you!" He exclaimed. He turned his attention back to Mabel. "See, true love does overcome all obstacles." Gideon told her.

Mabel nodded quickly. "Of course it does! Especially if it's ours!" She cheered, as if it was the most wonderful thing in the world. "Now we can go on dates every single day, talk about our feelings and be together all the time!" The young girl added excitedly. Maybe a bit too excitedly, actually; she even did a little hand motion to go along with her statement.

"How splendid!" Gideon giggled, smiling at Mabel's silliness.

"And then we'll run off and get married! Maybe when we're like 16! I can't wait to be Mabel Gleeful! I'm getting gleeful just thinking about it!" Mabel said, seeming absolutely thrilled. She put her hands on the younger boy's face and smiled widely at him.

Gideon's expression changed to one of confusion and worry. He couldn't tell if she was joking or not. There was something deadly serious and determined in her tone behind her happiness.

From the other side of the kitchen, Dipper watched the ongoing scene, trying to conceal his amusement. Gideon glanced over at him nervously, and Dipper just shrugged as if saying 'Look dude, you got yourself into this mess'.

Mabel tried to get Gideon to focus his attention back on her. "We can have like five whole kids! Named Lucy, Edmund, Peter, Susan and Gideon Jr.! …I chose that last one 'cause it seemed majestic enough to go along with the others! They may be the kings and queens of Narnia, but you're the king of my heart!" She continued. "Ooh and we'll live in a huugee mansion and even own a bunch of horses! I can't wait for our future together! Fairytale ending! Yay!"

Things were certainly escalating quickly. Gideon wasn't sure to how feel. His feelings were quite conflicted, really. The girl he was desperately in love with was planning their future, yet it kind of creeped him out.

"Uh…Now, Mabel, let's not get too ahead of ourselves just yet." Gideon suggested with a laugh, despite his sudden discomfort.

Mabel pouted and removed her hands from his face. Gideon looked a bit relieved. "Why not, Giddy? Don't you wanna be with me forever and ever?" She asked, her voice serious and quiet, as if she had been offended by his suggestion.

"Well, of course I do! Goodness, Mabel! But, I do think we should take it a tiny bit slower, okay? No need to discuss marriage just yet. We have plenty of time." He told her, standing up and patting her on the back. He gave her an uncomfortable smile and glanced at the clock. "So, how bout I pick you up for our first lunch date at say, tomorrow around one o'clock?"

"Tomorrow around one o'clock." Mabel repeated with a silly smile on her face.

Gideon laughed and looked at her hopefully. "Simply charming." He muttered, shaking his head and grinning. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, my sweet."

"I'll be thinking of you every moment we're apart!" Mabel called after him as he left the kitchen.

Gideon didn't reply.

As soon as they heard the door slam shut, Dipper burst into laughter.

"That worked! It actually worked! Nice job, sis!" He said between laughs.

Mabel blushed a bit. "Don't speak of it." She muttered.

Dipper grinned and shook his head. "Alright. Well-"He began, attempting to change the subject.

Mabel cut him off, giving him an icy glare. "DIPPER, I SAID DON'T SPEAK OF IT!" She snapped.

Her brother gave her a questioning look. "I wasn't going to..." He muttered.

"Oh? Then please continue." Mabel said as sweetly as possible, giving Dipper an innocent smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, I made an interesting discovery today." He explained with a grimace.

"Besides the fact that Gideon is a total psychopath?" Mabel asked expectantly.

"Right." Dipper half-laughed.

"Ooh! What is it?" His sister asked, suddenly eager for a subject change. She sat down at the table and motioned for Dipper to sit across from her.

"You know that jerk, Robbie?" Dipper asked as he sat down, a bleary look on his face.

"Wendy's boyfriend? Yeah, I know him. Sadly." Mabel nodded, looking a bit displeased.

"Well apparently he's not a human. Weird right?" Dipper told her.

Mabel's eyes widened.

"But that's not all. He has book four. And he borrowed….or more like temporarily stole against my will, book two." Dipper added.

Mabel looked shocked, but her expression soon changed to curiosity. "Do you think he might be a zombie? That could be interesting! I hear zombies give the best hugs!" Mabel giggled, not seeming too phased.

Dipper shook his head. "What? Well…maybe. I don't know. He doesn't even know yet. I just…I'm really worried about Wendy." He said with a frown.

Mabel stood up and walked around the table to give him a quick pat on the back. "Don't worry, bro-bro. True love can prevail over any obstacle. Everything will be just fine!" She told him with a grin.

Though Dipper wasn't sure if Mabel meant his and Wendy's 'love' or Robbie and Wendy's, he gave his twin a slight smile. "I hope so…" He whispered.

* * *

It was a warm, humid day in Gravity Falls. To most of the tourists and inhabitants, it was just another average summer day. But Dipper Pines knew better than to think any day of his life would be normal ever again. Today would just be yet another terrible day filled with worry, anxiety and lots and lots of planning.

The discoveries of the previous day were still on his mind, but they were merely afterthoughts in comparison to his most recent worry. He had a nightmare, or more likely a vision, and it wasn't pretty. Though it wasn't quite the same, it worried him just as much as the very first vision he had, where his sister had died. What worried him most, however, was how vague the dream was.

It took all of his willpower to keep from telling Wendy about his vision as soon as he walked into the gift shop. He thought it would be best, since she would definitely be getting involved eventually. He wanted her to be as prepared as possible. So when Robbie walked into the gift shop, Dipper figured he finally had someone to consult on the matter, especially since Robbie was also involved. As soon as the teen was near enough to him and Wendy, Dipper began to laugh nervously. He was even more anxious than normal.

Robbie gave him an odd look, and opened his mouth to say something, but Dipper cut him off.

"Ha-Hey Robbie, buddy. Want to come hang out in the 'great outdoors' or…whatever for a sec?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in hope that Robbie would get his drift.

Robbie shrugged, slightly confused, but somewhat understanding. "Alright." He said. "Sure. Let's go."

"Have fun, you two!" Wendy called as they exited the shack.

Once they were out in the parking lot, Dipper let out a deep sigh, slightly less tense than he had been when Wendy was around.

"Robbie, I think we need to join forces to make sure Wendy stays safe." He blurted.

Robbie looked surprised. "Wait, what? Why wouldn't she be safe? There's always been weird stuff going on here, but it's not like she's in danger…" He mumbled skeptically.

"She's just…not safe. Trust me." Dipper insisted, making a dramatic hand motion in hope of somehow proving his point.

"Well why not, wise guy?" Robbie asked, shaking his head.

Dipper began to pace nervously. "Now nothing is safe and she might get involved and I just don't want her to get hurt!" He rambled, his voice shaky.

"Please tell me you…Just-explain." The teen growled, getting tired of Dipper's vague explanations.

"I had a dream. But it was really blurry and it made no sense and I…I have no idea what to expect." Dipper began. "I just know you and her are going to be fighting against…something. And I have a weird feeling it involves this thing that's hunting down my family."

"Well that's real helpful, isn't it?" Robbie muttered sarcastically. "And of course, it always involves you!" He added, pointing at the pre-teen accusingly.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well it usually involves you too, zombie." He retorted.

Robbie scoffed. "Who said I was a zombie?" The older boy asked. "Last time I checked I wasn't dead. And I don't have a craving for brains either…"

Dipper scowled. "Well what are you then?" He asked. "Zombie made perfect sense to me. It would explain a lot about your appearance…and-and why you wear so much body spray! Plus, you wrote 'zombies rule' inside Thompson's car." He pointed out.

Robbie rolled his eyes. "You really want me to explain all that? I wear body spray because I think it smells nice, genius! I wrote 'zombies rule' because…Well, I hang out at the cemetery a lot, okay? And, like I said, there's plenty of weird stuff in this town. I've met tons of zombies. They like me, I guess, 'cause I'm not a human or whatever. So there's this joke that I'm the 'king of the zombies' and I have a 'zombie army.' But it's no big deal, really." He explained with a shrug. "As far as my appearance goes, no zombie could ever be this amazingly attractive. So that's a pretty lame guess."

Dipper was becoming impatient. "Just tell me already." He groaned. "There are more important matters at hand!"

"Okay, jeez, calm down. I thought maybe you could figure it on your own, seeing as you're the geeky smart type. But noo. Whatever." Robbie teased. "I'm a vampire, okay? Well a 'dhampir' anyway. I'm a half-blood: Half-vampire, half-human. I guess I can live with that." He said. "It kinda clears some things up, I guess… like why I've never met my dad. So…whatever." The teen added quietly.

After a bit of awkward silence, Dipper finally spoke up. "Wait, so do you like…Crave human blood or anything?" He asked. His previous vampire encounter had been less than pleasant, and this just added to his worries. But hopefully, he'd know what to do if Robbie ever tried to hurt Wendy. If half-blood's weaknesses were the same as vampires' anyway.

"Pfft- No. Don't worry, kid. I'm pretty much normal." Robbie insisted. "Maybe my senses are a bit better than most peoples', but other than that…"

Dipper smiled, a bit relieved. "Apparently your definition of 'normal' is different than mine." He joked.

Robbie rolled his eyes and suddenly walked over to his car.

Dipper watched him curiously, until he came back with a large red book in his hands.

He gave it to Dipper and half-smiled. "This was pretty dang helpful, and you're lucky I'm actually going to give it back." He said.

Dipper snatched the book quickly, just in case Robbie was only teasing him. He protectively held the book tightly to his chest, still skeptical about Robbie's intentions.

"I should probably keep the whole vampire thing from my sister for a while..." The younger boy said, a bit randomly.

"Why?" Robbie asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"I guess you could say Mabel's got a thing for vampires." Dipper replied with a slight grin.

Robbie let out a little laugh. "Well then, as weird as that is... You think we should tell Wendy?" He asked.

"About what? Mabel's vampire fetish? Wendy better not have any competition there. It's my sister we're talking about here." Dipper said with a scowl.

Robbie looked shocked. "What? No! Not that! Just…everything! If we want to keep her safe we can't leave her completely oblivious. I mean, like…we do have to tell her sometime." He stated.

Dipper nodded slowly. "You're right…" He said.

Robbie sighed quietly. "Well, whenever you're ready. I'll be here all day." He said with a shrug, walking toward the shack.

Dipper watched him leave, shaking his head in disbelief. "Half-vampire…" He whispered. "Just great."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update! I promise chapter 5 will be published very soon. Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited and/or reviewed! I've really enjoyed writing this and would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far. Happy Holidays everyone! I'll be back sometime next week with a new chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5: An Unforeseen Enemy

**A/N: Warning- Plot twist and possible confusion and OOCness ahead!**

* * *

Instead of going right to the gift shop to talk with Wendy and Robbie, Dipper walked around the Mystery Shack to the main entrance, muttering to himself as he went. He needed some time on his own to think. And now that he had the book back, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to do some research as well.

"He just has to be a vampire of all things, doesn't he?" Dipper grumbled, sulking across the porch. When he walked in the door, he noticed something odd. He heard a noise coming from the living room, which was kind of unusual for this time of day. His Grunkle Stan was sitting on the couch watching TV. Usually, by this time Stan was giving tours to poor, oblivious tourists and showing off whatever latest scam he'd found. When Stan noticed Dipper, he turned off the television and stood up.

"Oh, there you are. You wanna go get some breakfast with me and your sister?" The old man asked. Dipper raised his eyebrows suspiciously.

"Shouldn't you be working?" He asked.

"Nah. There are hardly any tourists 'cause of this humidity or... something, I don't know." Stan said with a shrug. "You coming or what?" Dipper set the book down on the kitchen table and nodded. Maybe he wouldn't get any alone time to think, but at least he could get his grunkle's opinion on some things.

"I guess so." He sighed.

* * *

Almost as soon as the Pines family entered Greasy's Diner, the waitress, Lazy Susan, was at their table. Surprisingly, she wasn't living up to her name at the moment.

"There you are! I've been trying to call you for weeks!" The old woman exclaimed, grinning at Stan. Dipper, having not known about the whole Lazy Susan and Stan thing, looked at the two of them questioningly. Mabel just shook her head and smiled. Stan pulled at the collar of his shirt uncomfortably.

"Uh…M-my phone must be broken?" He stuttered, smiling back at Susan nervously. The white haired woman nodded understandingly.

"Okay. So...May I take your order, handsome?" She asked. Before her great uncle could reply, Mabel spoke up.

"We'd like some pancakes please! With extra whipped cream and syrup!" She said in a rush, grinning brightly. Stan looked at her accusingly, but was too nervous with Susan around to speak up. Lazy Susan jotted their order down on a notepad and nodded. As soon as the waitress walked away, Stan shook his head.

"Those pancakes are coming out of your paycheck, Mabel." He grumbled.

"You don't even pay us, Grunkle Stan." Dipper reminded him."...And what's going on with you and the waitress?" He asked. Stan groaned.

"Well...I mean, I like her and all...but she's just so..." He trailed off and shrugged. Mabel patted her Grunkle on the back.

"Grunkle Stan, just tell her how you feel." She told him with an encouraging smile. Dipper raised his eyebrows.

"Uh-Mabel, do you really think you should be giving relationship advice right now?" He asked, a bit tauntingly. Mabel huffed and looked down, her face turning bright red. All of a sudden, Stan looked strangely interested in the twins' conversation.

"Hey now, what happened?" He asked, eager for some gossip. Mabel crossed her arms and pouted at Dipper, hoping he wouldn't talk about it. Sadly, she had no such luck.

"It's kinda important that he knows, Mabel." Dipper told her. He turned back to Stan and sighed deeply. "Alright, so Gideon apparently has book two. And he tried to use a love potion on Mabel." He explained. Stan's eyes widened.

"That little troll!" He growled. "He just doesn't know how to be subtle about supernatural stuff, does he? First his stupid telepathy and now this." The old man shook his head angrily. "I had a feeling he had one of the books." Dipper nodded knowingly.

"That's not even the worst of it. Yesterday, I found out that Robbie also has one of the books. And, he's half-vampire." He told Stan.

"Ooh! A vampire?" Mabel chimed in, out of her bad mood all of a sudden. "You know, I think Wendy's friend Nate might be a werewolf! So interesting! Now if only they were fighting for my affection..." Dipper shot his twin a weary glance.

"Think Wendy's safe?" Stan asked. "I don't wanna have to find someone else to sit behind the cash register all day. They might actually want to get paid minimum wage." Dipper looked even more distressed as soon as his red-haired friend was mentioned.

"Well...That's just it. I had a vision last night, and it was about Wendy and Robbie..." He said, his voice hardly above a whisper. Stan leaned in closer to hear him. "They were fighting against...something. I don't know. It was like every time they attacked it, it turned to clouds of black smoke. And Mabel and Gideon were there too! It just makes no sense at all." Dipper muttered, shaking his head sadly. Stan looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Black smoke, huh? Doesn't really sound like much. How do you know it wasn't just a nightmare or something, not a vision?" He asked his great nephew. Dipper shrugged.

"I just…I have a weird feeling about it." He whispered, staring down at the table worriedly. By this time, Lazy Susan was back at their table with their food.

"For you!" She exclaimed with an attempted wink as she set Stan's plate down.

"Uh-thanks, Sugarpie...Babycakes...Honeymuffin." He stuttered, suddenly freezing up. Susan shook her head and smiled.

"Silly." She laughed. As Lazy Susan turned around, Dipper looked up at Stan again.

"I think all of the books' owners should team up against whatever this thing is." He told him. Mabel nearly spit out the bite of pancake she was chewing.

"Say what?" She asked, her words muffled by the food still in her mouth.

"Because the emo kid and psycho psychic are going to be a whole lot of help." Stan jeered sarcastically. Dipper rolled his eyes.

"C'mon guys. I think we'd be a lot stronger as a team." He said in a very determined tone. "Whatever it is, it must be pretty tough. And apparently, it might be coming after us soon. All of us. We don't know a single thing about whatever it is. So we need all the help we can get." Dipper explained. Stan considered the thought while chewing a huge mouthful of his breakfast.

"Well...I guess I can kinda see your point there." He said after a moment.

No one seemed to notice Lazy Susan had been near their table the whole conversation, until she turned around to face Stan with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. Stan instantly tensed up, shrinking back in his seat.

"Are you enjoying your food, Stan?" She asked. Stan nodded quickly and took a huge bite of pancakes to prove his point. "Good, good." Lazy Susan laughed. Suddenly, she walked right out of the diner at a pace that completely went against her name and usual behavior, leaving the Pines all alone in the diner. Something seriously wasn't right.

"What's up with her?" Dipper asked, finally starting to eat his breakfast. Stan shrugged.

"I dunno, kid." He said, sounding unconcerned.

"Well, I guess I should probably go tell Wendy and Robbie the 'plan'." Dipper said, standing up and pushing his nearly full plate of pancakes to the side. "And Mabel, when you go on your date with Gideon later make sure you ask him too." Mabel blushed.

"It's not a date! It's just...Love potion! Ugh!" She groaned, standing up and following her twin out of the diner. As soon as the twins left, Lazy Susan reappeared in the empty diner just as suddenly as she had left. She sat down across from Stan, her face completely unreadable. Stan seemed highly uncomfortable.

"How long have you known, Stanford?" The old woman asked in a voice almost entirely unlike her own. Stan looked at her quizzically, his nervousness around her returning yet again.

"Uh-known about what?" He asked in his best attempt to sound casual, not sure what Susan was referring to.

"Stan-y, don't play dumb. We both know you've figured it out. Just tell me how long you planned on keeping up this foolish little act. Were you trying to trick us?" Lazy Susan asked, her one-eyed gaze becoming more and more menacing though her voice was gradually becoming more and more like her own again.

"Us?" Stan asked with a nervous laugh. "What are you-You quoting a movie or somethin'?" Susan rolled her eye and shook her head disbelievingly.

"You think you can persuade me with your humor, huh?" She asked.

"Listen, what are you talking about?" Stan asked, becoming more confused and freaked out than anything.

"Stop it, Stan! The Society is back! And you know it! This is serious." The old woman basically shouted. Stan was more surprised at Susan's sudden change in character than what she had to say, but after a moment his face completely dropped. His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. "Really now, just stop! I was supposed to keep an eye on you...almost literally. And now we're both in so much trouble! They're probably going to kill us both!" Susan sighed, propping her head up with her hands. "Honestly, Stan, you're making it hard for me to choose a side." The sudden change in tone and topic had seemingly entirely shocked the 'Man of Mystery'.

"What did they do to my brother?" Stan asked breathlessly, less concerned about Susan's problem at the moment, or the possibility that she might be on the opposing side.

"Stan, he's been dead for years. Ever since he found out about...you know. The Northwest conspiracy? The Society is only back now because your little nephew decided to let his curiosity get the best of him. But thanks to your brother, we kind of have a disadvantage now." Susan said quietly, pointing to her sealed shut eye. Stan suddenly became paler than normal. Lazy Susan shook her head. "I really thought you knew all this."

"I thought you guys were dead. He killed almost all of you! I was there! And-he called! He called his son not too long ago..." Stan trailed off, his usually confident voice becoming oddly unsure.

"Don't forget what the society is capable of. Your brother had his logic backwards." Susan said with a shrug. Stan's gaze became distant, as if he was remembering something.

"You-you were there, weren't you? How did I not...?" He muttered.

"I guess we're just lucky your brother wasn't really a big fan of violence. Well...I'm lucky anyway. Even if I am stuck in a...not so preferred form. You on the other hand..." Susan sighed. "You're just lucky I'm even telling you all this. Technically, I should have never broken character. More likely, I should have killed you as soon as I became suspicious. But..." She paused for a moment, until Stan finally looked up at her. "I really do like you. No matter what happens. Remember me like this, okay?" Susan asked him with an almost shy smile. Stan nodded weakly.

"I-uh..." He stuttered. With so much on his mind already, it was even harder for him to function around her.

"Just-Just go, okay? They're already on their way." Susan said with a sigh. "Good luck." Stan nodded appreciatively and rose to his feet. His legs were a bit shakier than normal, but he managed to walk out the door before completely losing his composure.

"On their way...Wendy and Robbie. Gideon and Mabel." Stan muttered aloud, suddenly connecting the dots. He let out a shocked gasp. "Dipper's dream! …I've gotta tell the twins." He whispered, his eyes widening in fear.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys had a great New Year! Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows! Reviews and predictions would be greatly appreciated! A new chapter should be up within the next week or so.**


	6. Chapter 6: Origins and Revelations

Trying not to worry about the peculiar situation that had happened at Greasy's Diner, Dipper made his way back to the Mystery Shack. While planning his and Robbie's conversation with Wendy, he couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. Honestly, he had no clue how Wendy would take the news. At best, he figured she wouldn't believe them.

Once he reached the Shack, Dipper paced around for a bit, deep in thought. The young boy tried to calm himself down, but after moment he realized just how pointless his attempt was. After a bit more mental preparation, he finally built up the courage to walk inside and get things over with. Taking a deep breath, he swung open the door.

"Hey Robbie," Dipper called as he walked into the gift shop. "Hello Wendy." He strolled over to the two teens as casually as possible, attempting with no avail to hide his nervousness.

Robbie nodded a greeting.

"Hey Dipper." Wendy replied with a small smile.

Dipper faked a smile back at her and played with the collar of his vest, mentally preparing for the impending conversation to be had with her and Robbie.

Robbie glanced down at Dipper and gave him a puzzled look. "What's up, squirt?" The teen asked, seeming a bit tense, ready for the inevitable to just happen already.

"Oh, not too much. Just…thought that maybe we could talk to Wendy for a bit." Dipper said through clenched teeth. He and Robbie exchanged a glance, and the older boy nodded.

"Right…" He muttered.

Wendy looked between the two of them inquiringly. She removed her feet from the counter and sat up straighter in her seat. "Talk to me about what?" She asked with an almost cheerful smile.

"Babe, we've been keeping some things from you…" Robbie began, looking down at his feet anxiously. "Some things that are pretty dang important, actually."

"Like what?" Wendy asked, a bit more insistently, but not quite worriedly. She still didn't seem to be taking the situation as seriously as Robbie and Dipper would have liked. She leaned forward on the counter to get closer to them, still seeming completely calm, unlike the two boys in front of her.

"Well…We think you're in danger. But, there are things we have to tell you before we can explain that." Dipper said, looking toward Robbie to elaborate on the subject.

Wendy looked at him expectantly.

"Um…Well…I'm-I'm half-vampire, okay?" The teen said a bit shyly, playing with the strings on his hoodie.

Wendy raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Dipper took this as the perfect opportunity to add his part to the conversation. "A-And…I have visions of the future sometimes. There's this thing that's been hunting my family... I-I had a vision that you and Robbie were fighting against it." Dipper explained quickly. "I don't know what will happen, but I have a bad feeling about this! We're in danger, Wendy!"

Wendy's eyes widened, but as she saw how anxious the boys were to see her reaction, a small smile spread across her face. "You guys." She said, shaking her head. "Whatever, okay?" The ginger girl reached across the counter to play with a piece of her boyfriend's hair and looked into his eyes with a warmhearted smile. "Stop acting crazy." She muttered.

Dipper and Robbie looked at each other worriedly, thinking she didn't believe them.

"But-Babe, we're being completely serious!" Robbie insisted.

"Do you not see how serious this is?" Dipper asked her. He turned to Robbie. "She doesn't see how serious this is."

"Here we are confessing our deepest darkest secrets, and she thinks we're crazy!" Robbie sighed, hanging his head in defeat.

Wendy let out a little laugh. "Listen guys, I don't think you're crazy! I've lived in this town long enough. So I've seen some things, trust me. In fact, I'll bet everyone here has. I mean, did you seriously forget about those ghosts at that haunted convenience store?" She asked. The teen's smile widened. "Robbie, whatever you are… you're my boyfriend, and I love you. Honestly, I don't care if you're alive, dead, undead or whatever." Wendy shrugged, and then quickly turned to the younger of the two boys. "And you, Dipper, I don't even care if you have wacko visions. You're still like, one of my best friends. Okay, little dude?"

Both boys stared at her in astonishment, unable to come up with a proper response. They never knew quite what to expect from a girl like Wendy Corduroy, but honestly, they couldn't believe that she had responded so...Wendy-like.

The red haired girl let out a quiet laugh and shook her head. "So stop freaking out, guys. If you think we're in danger, then let's get ready to kick some Pines haters' butts! We'll show them who's boss!" Wendy announced, raising her fist in the air victoriously.

Robbie and Dipper exchanged a glance, their faces completely blank. Finally, after a moment, they both grinned.

"Wendy… babe, this is why we love you." Robbie said with a chuckle.

Wendy gave him a playful punch on the arm. "I know." She replied with a shrug, smiling despite herself.

* * *

It was nearing one o'clock, and Mabel was seriously dreading her upcoming date. She didn't even bother to make herself look nice. Honestly, having to date Gideon was far more stressful for her than anything going on with her family at the moment.

The young girl grumbled to herself quietly as she trudged down the stairs, wondering if she could somehow get out of this mess she caused for herself.

"Mabel! Dipper!" She heard her Grunkle call, the door slamming behind him as he practically sprinted into the shack. Mabel quickened her pace and got to the back door as fast as she could.

"Grunkle Stan, what is it?" She asked anxiously, hoping it would be news about Lazy Susan and Stan's complicated relationship.

"Susan…She-she's a member of… the Society! The group that killed your grandfather! And they're on their way to Oregon!" Stan gasped breathlessly. "I should have seen this coming!" He muttered, mostly just to himself. "Dipper, where are you?!" He called before rushing toward the gift shop.

As Stan burst into the gift shop, the trio gasped in surprise. Though when Dipper realized it was just Stan, he relaxed a bit.

"What are the haps, Stanford?" Wendy asked, seeming just as relaxed as normal.

Stan ignored her and half-limped over to Dipper, exhausted.

Robbie moved over so the old man could lean against the counter for support.

"Dipper, I figured it out! I figured out who's-" Stan began, still short of breath. He trailed off and glanced around the room. "Wait-Did you tell them yet?" He asked, motioning toward the two teens.

Dipper nodded, a bit unsure of what was going on.

"Well, the Society, the group that your grandfather was researching when he went missing, is back. They killed him! And Lazy Susan is one of them! She said they were keeping an eye on us in case any of us became suspicious again…But how do they even exist? I was there when he destroyed the one thing their life force was hanging onto! And that was months before he went missing!" Stan rambled.

At that moment, Robbie gasped, as if he remembered something. "The Society?" He asked quickly. "Oh my gosh…"

The whole group looked at him curiously.

"I read about them in book four." He explained. "But there was something on the page that didn't make any sense even compared to the rest of it. I ignored it until now, but…" Robbie ran outside and returned just moments later with the forth book. He opened it and hurriedly flipped through the pages.

The three others leaned over him so they could see.

"Beware the one-eyed society." Dipper read aloud, his voice quiet and grim. The writing was different from the rest. It looked more recent, yet it had definitely been written quite a while ago. It was in dark red ink, scrawled carelessly across the area that told about their life force, the part which was apparently proven untrue.

Stan nearly facepalmed. "Backwards logic…It all makes sense now! Why didn't he ever tell me anything?" The old man groaned.

"Grunkle Stan, what's going on? Backwards logic? Why did they kill your brother?" Dipper asked.

Stan sighed deeply. As he glanced up at the clock, he suddenly stood up a bit straighter. "It's a long story and I've got stuff to do." He said, shaking his head. "Just read about it in the stinkin' book and I'll tell you anything that's not in there when I get back." Stan muttered as he left the gift shop.

* * *

As Gideon arrived to pick Mabel up for their date, Mabel rushed him into the shack.

"Change of plans, lovebug." She told him as sweetly as possible through gritted teeth. "We're staying here."

"But Mabey, I already rented a limousine to bring us to a Japanese hibachi restaurant just outside of town. Their sushi is divine!" Gideon protested.

"Well if we go and eat sushi now, I might end up as sushi later." Mabel grumbled.

Gideon had no clue what she was talking about; in fact, he thought it might be another side effect of the love potion.

"Listen, I'm in danger, okay? Or more like the whole Pines family is in danger. And I need you to help us out." Mabel clarified, speaking to him slowly, as if he was a child. "B-because you're a big strong man who I love and I need you to protect me." She added quickly, remembering the potion. It was too early to explain the situation with the potion to him now, especially since he hadn't even agreed to help yet, and he didn't know that: 1) she knew about the books 2) Dipper also had one of the books and 3) there was something hunting her family and it was on its way to Oregon as they spoke. She decided to leave the real explaining to Dipper, if Gideon agreed to help anyway.

"Why would I help the Pines family?" Gideon asked, his nose crinkling in disgust.

Mabel was less than surprised. She was prepared for his answer. She batted her eyelashes at him and pouted, attempting to look as adorable and 'irresistible' as possible. "Because they're my family and I love them and I'm one of them. So if you love me…" The young girl began.

Less than a heartbeat later, Gideon saw the point. "Of course, my marshmella. If they dare hurt a single bracket in your pretty little braces-filled smile, I will ANNIALATE THEM!" He vowed, looking at Mabel very seriously.

"That's more like it." She mumbled. "I-I mean…thank you, my hero!" Mabel grabbed Gideon by the wrist and led him toward the gift shop. "To the secret lair!" She announced. "…I've always wanted to say that!"

* * *

Dipper and Robbie were sitting on the counter near the cash register reading book four, Wendy sitting behind them and half-heartedly following along over their shoulders, when suddenly the door to the gift shop burst open yet again. Startled, Dipper jumped up, only to find Mabel and Gideon.

Gideon caught sight of the book in Dipper's hand and let out a surprised gasp. The two teens glanced over at the younger kids curiously, unsure of what was happening.

"Dipper Pines…You have book four?" Gideon asked breathlessly.

"No." Dipper told him. He reached behind the counter and pulled out books one and three. "This one is technically Robbie's. And One is technically Stan's. Well, actually, they all belonged to Stan's brother. But I do, at the moment, have book three." He said plainly. "And don't worry; we already know you have either book two or five, most likely two."

Gideon gasped yet again, his eyes wide with shock. "But…How?" He stuttered, a puzzled look on his face.

"Mabel didn't really drink the potion." Dipper stated, looking bored and sitting down to continue in his reading. "You were talking to yourself while she was supposedly passed out."

Gideon looked at Mabel, completely in shock.

She stared at the ground and refused to look up at him.

Wendy cleared her throat, feeling awkward in the sudden tense situation she didn't quite understand. "Uh-hey Robbie." She muttered, motioning outside. Her boyfriend gave a quick nod.

As soon as the two of them were gone, Gideon spoke up. "You lied to me?" He asked quietly.

"I'm sorry…But I wasn't lying when I said we need your help." Mabel told him. Gideon looked contemplative for a moment.

"Why would I help a liar and my rivals?" He asked aloud, almost as if he were asking himself.

Mabel was silent.

Gideon stared at her for a moment, before simply shaking his head and walking over toward Dipper. "Temporary truce?" He asked.

Dipper smiled slightly and hopped off the counter to be more face-to-face with Gideon. "Truce." He said, shaking the other boy's hand.

Mabel grinned. "Thank you, Gideon! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She ran over and hugged both of them, leaving past feelings behind for the moment.

"Okay, well now we really have to get reading." Dipper announced when Mabel finally let them go. "Did Stan tell you what he just found out?" He asked his sister.

Mabel nodded. "Well…Some of it. But I don't even really understand." She said with a shrug.

Dipper sighed. "Alright. Me and the others have read the pages, and I'm still trying to piece things together…But I'll tell you guys what I know so far." He said.

Gideon and Mabel nodded in sync as the group sat down.

"Basically, there was some sort of mad scientist who was secretly experimenting on people to see if he could figure out how to shape shift." Dipper began. "So he invented a device that could capture images, kind of like a camera, and attempt to recreate them; then he replaced the test subject's left eye with it."

Mabel made a little gagging noise. "That's disgusting!" She mumbled.

"What does this have anything to do with the Pines family?" Gideon asked a bit impatiently, not seeing the point.

"I'm getting to that." Dipper explained. "Anyway, his first attempt was a complete failure, and all nine of the test subjects died. And when people found out about it, he was supposed to be arrested." He continued. "Only, here's where it gets interesting. He had apparently perfected his experiment by then. So he used it on himself and ran off to the middle of nowhere in Oregon to start a new life. But by that time, he had already gone completely insane." He looked up at Gideon and Mabel. "Starting to see the connection yet?" Dipper asked.

Gideon nodded.

"Well, kind of. I'm still sort of stuck on the whole eye thing." Mabel admitted.

Dipper rolled his eyes, finding it pointless to re-explain anything to his easily distracted twin. "Well, apparently, before he got there he tried to bring all the test subjects that he killed back to life. And he used his perfected original experiment on them to use them as some kind of loyal shape shifting undead army." Dipper continued.

"And all this worked?" Gideon asked.

Dipper looked up at him and nodded.

"That man must have been a genius!"

"Ha-I really doubt that. Because the best part is, guess who the man was?" Dipper asked.

Mabel and Gideon thought for a moment.

"Who?" Mabel asked.

Dipper grimaced. "Nathaniel Northwest, the supposed founder of the town." He told her.

Gideon gasped. "Wait…supposed founder?" The white-haired boy asked.

"It's a long story." Mabel explained, shaking her head. "This town sure does have a colorful history! And hey, I guess Nathaniel was a pretty 'powerful wizard' after all!" She laughed, remembering his catchphrase. "That guy was a nut. But, how is this connected to our family?" She asked Dipper.

"Well, when Stan's brother found out that Nathaniel wasn't the real founder of Gravity Falls, he wrote about it in the second book. You know that much. But he kept looking into it to find out who Nathaniel Northwest actually was. And after some more research and some observations he found out that the other shape shifters were still around. Almost like their souls were trapped here." Dipper told her.

Gideon raised his eyebrows.

"Apparently, these shape shifters had a bit of a giveaway. Their eyes would never change, no matter what or whose shape they changed into. So, he wanted to destroy them and free their souls. He thought that if he blinded their left eye so it couldn't capture images anymore and they couldn't continue to make sure no one found out the truth about Nathaniel, then their souls would somehow be freed. " Dipper explained. "But what he didn't realize was that their soul was apparently anchored to their right eye, the only part of their original body left, and only their shape shifting abilities relied on the left eye." He told them with a sigh. "So a few months later, I guess they got their revenge."

Mabel let out a little gasp. "That's so terrible! These are bad, awful people!" She exclaimed with a pout.

"I thought I had problems dealing with revenge, but this guy…Wow." Gideon said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Just as he spoke the door to the gift shop opened, and in walked Robbie and Wendy, hand in hand, closely followed by a few interesting looking individuals. The pre-teens' eyes widened at the sight.

"Hey guys. You sort everything out yet?" Wendy asked, paying no mind to the kids' shock.

Dipper nodded in response, though his gaze was still focused behind her.


	7. Chapter 7: the Undead Alliance

Dipper couldn't believe his eyes. In front of him, just behind Wendy and Robbie, were basically five standing, rotting corpses. It was probably one of the most unbelievable things he'd ever seen. They didn't look anything like how he imagined zombies to look. They certainly weren't typical 'movie zombies'. In fact, they appeared very similar to normal, living, humans; only a whole lot paler, with some splotches of discolor in shades of purple and green on their skin and a few scars here and there. Their eyes looked a bit glassy, like they were in a trance, but they didn't really look hungry for brains or anything. They actually looked kind of…tired, but calm. From Dipper's guess, most of them had died pretty recently.

"It's not… polite to stare." One of the undead teens groaned.

Dipper's eyes widened even further, surprised that the zombies could speak.

"Hey, don't mind this little dude. He's just not used to the living dead quite yet." Robbie told his friend with a slight chuckle. He turned back to the kids and grinned. "Guys, these are my zombie friends." The teen said, motioning toward the five rotting collections of flesh and bones behind him.

Some of the zombies groaned a greeting.

The kids still seemed a bit alarmed, though Mabel looked more interested than anything else.

Dipper opened his mouth to speak, but Robbie glared at him. "Basically, don't ask questions, 'cause I probably don't have answers. And chances are they don't either. Being dead…or more like undead, is a wonderfully strange thing. I write songs about it sometimes, no big deal." He told them. "Anyway, point is, I was thinking these guys could…I dunno, help us out a bit. They may seem kinda slow right now, but I swear they have surprising hand-to-hand combat skills…Well, unless a hand falls off or something. But, the main thing is that they can keep watch while we do some more research. Cause, you know, they can't really die or anything necessarily. So to get to us, the Society is gonna have to go through them first." He said, seeming pleased with his ingenious idea.

Dipper shook his head as if he couldn't believe what Robbie had done, but Robbie continued talking before he could say anything.

"Now, before you get all freaked out, just remember that these guys in particular don't eat human flesh, brains, or anything like that... Well, not usually anyway. Not unless they get really hungry. And I think they ate recently. So they'll probably be a huge advantage here." Robbie explained. He looked toward Dipper expectantly, awaiting his thoughts on his idea.

"Robbie that's…" Dipper began. He stared at the zombies again contemplatively. They didn't seem too dangerous. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"That's brilliant!" Mabel finished for her twin, a huge smile on her face. For some reason, despite her previous vampire encounter which had gone less than wonderfully, she thought it was fun to be around anyone or anything that was supernatural or out of the ordinary.

However, as much as he loved reading about things of the sort, Dipper didn't quite agree. For him, it was enough just having Robbie there. But if it would help protect his sister and Wendy, he did agree that they needed any help they could get.

"I'm glad someone here knows a genius when they see one." Robbie said with a little nod toward Mabel.

Mabel shrugged and grinned at him, then quickly glanced over at the zombies again, trying her best not to stare.

At that point, the door to the gift shop opened yet again. Stan stumbled into the shack, carrying what appeared to be a huge black briefcase. "Alright, listen up." He announced, a bit too preoccupied to realize that there were now five new, unplanned and undead members added to the group. "I talked to Lazy Susan, and she said it'd probably be a few hours before the Society gets here." Stan said.

Upon hearing this, Dipper sighed loudly in relief.

"And, I found out we have some weapons with iron blades down in the basement, which is helpful 'cause iron can drain usable energy from spirits." The old man set the case down on the counter and patted the top of it almost lovingly.

"Wait, the Mystery Shack has a basement?" Dipper asked, his voice suddenly full of confusion.

Stan looked up to reply to his great nephew, and suddenly he noticed the zombies. His eyes opened wide with shock. Whoa! What the-"Stan began before being cut off by an icy glare from Robbie.

"They're good guys, don't worry." Wendy told her employer, smiling calmly.

"Really, super good guys!" Mabel added with a grin, staring at the zombies again, her face alight with curiosity.

Stan looked between Robbie, Mabel, and the zombies and shook his head. "Alright then." He muttered, clearing his throat. "Well, yeah. There's a basement; like I'd keep my ten loaded guns up here for Mabel to mess with! …But that's not important. We've gotta focus on what to do when the Society gets here." Stan announced, looking around at the gathered kids, teens and zombies and anxiously drumming his fingers on the top of the case he'd just set on the counter. "There are nine members of the Society. We have what-ten now?" He paused to count the group. "Okay, eleven. They're definitely outnumbered. They might be more powerful, but they don't have any special powers, and apparently they aren't planning on bringing any weapons. So if you just aim for the chest, head, neck, or really any vital area then things will probably work out fine. Just one quick stab or slice or whatever you wanna do, and it'll be over." Stan said with a shrug, seeming much calmer than he had just half an hour ago. Though he did seem more at ease, something was still definitely bothering him. He seemed distracted and maybe even a bit upset, but no one in the group seemed to notice. Everyone was too busy being distracted themselves at the moment.

As he continued drumming on the case, Mabel looked up from the zombies to glance over at him and give him a hopeful smile.

"So what you're saying is that we got all riled up for nothin', and we're not really in much danger?" Gideon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Stan nodded slowly, seemingly in a daze. "Well…yeah, I guess you could say that." He admitted. He finally stopped tapping on the case and took off his fez to run his hand through his messy, grey hair nervously. "I guess we kinda overestimated them. Cause the last time we ran into the Society they could shape shift and we didn't know how to defeat them, or what they were." Stan explained as he set his hat back on his head and looked around the room. "It probably won't take all that long to defeat them, honestly."

"But, Grunkle Stan, I've never been in a real fight before. I'm not sure any of us have. I really don't think this is going to be as easy as you say it will be!" Dipper rambled anxiously. He let out a nervous laugh. "I mean, how do you expect us to know how to use these knifes and things? I wouldn't even trust Mabel with a butter knife! …No offense Mabel. But really, I think we should be just a tiny bit worried."

Stan laughed quietly, shaking his head. "It's alright, kid. This isn't as big of a deal as we thought, I promise. There are more of us than there are of them. And they can't even shape shift any more. They're powerless." He said, his tone entirely calm. But just by looking at him it was obvious that more was going on than the kids and teens knew about. Stan kept looking like he was going to say something more, only to shake his head and decide to keep whatever it was to himself.

Everyone was silent for a moment, seeming lost in thought, unsure of whether or not to really trust what Stan was saying. If Stan wasn't being completely honest, it could cost them their lives, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Honestly, this didn't seem like such a great idea now that they had a chance to think it over, without the limited amount of time they thought they had before. With three pre-teens, two teenagers, five zombies and an old man fighting against nine angry spirits trapped in a physical form, it didn't seem like they actually had the advantage in this situation even if they did outnumber their enemy.

Sadly, it didn't really seem like there was any way out now, even for those who weren't in the Pines family. They all knew the Pines needed as much help as they could get. Mable, Dipper and Stan against the nine members of the Society wouldn't stand a chance. Even if they didn't want to put themselves in danger, most of them did have a reason. Wendy was there to help Mabel and Dipper, Gideon was there to make sure Mabel didn't get hurt, the zombies were there to help Robbie…but Robbie didn't really have a reason to put his life at risk. When he realized this, he was about to take Wendy with him and leave Stan, the kids and the zombies to fend for themselves. But as he got to thinking further, he realized he did have a reason to be there. He cared about Wendy, and he knew she wasn't going to give up and put her friends' lives on the line. It just wasn't the Corduroy way. If it meant something to her, he would try his best to help them. Plus, he did want to test out his half-vampire fighting skills and maybe impress Wendy a bit. He had never been in a 'real' fight before unless you count that incident with that video game character.

Everyone continued in the silence for a few minutes, lost in their own thought, until Stan started tapping on the top of the case again. Everyone snapped out of their thoughts and glanced in his direction. Stan shook his head, forcing himself back to reality, and suddenly remembered something.

"Oh! Wendy, I have something for you." He said. He rushed out of the gift shop again and returned a few moments later, struggling to carry a huge axe. "You're the only one I trust to use this right. It's made of iron of course. So, yeah…She's all yours." The old man said with a little smile, holding the axe up for the red haired teen.

"Sweet!" Wendy said with a little nod of appreciation, taking the axe from her employer with ease and admiring the blade for a moment. Wendy had used an axe plenty of times helping her lumberjack father chop down trees, and this one seemed to be particularly nice, even if it's main purpose at the moment wasn't for cutting trees. "Man, I can't wait to use this thing!" The redhead exclaimed, walking over to set her new weapon down behind the counter.

Dipper glanced over at it wearily. He really wasn't looking forward to the fight. If he had a choice between fighting and running away like a coward, he would choose the latter any day.

His sister, happening to look up from the zombies long enough to notice his concern, gave him a quick pat on the back.

"Grunkle Stan?" Mabel called, taking a few steps toward him.

He was busy taking out each knife from the black case and examining them, his eyebrows furrowed with worry, though he thought no one would see. "Huh?" Stan asked, turning to face his great niece a few moments after hearing her voice.

"Will there be blood involved in this fight? Because I'm not really a fan of blood, it could ruin my nice sweater!" The young girl said with a slight frown.

Stan let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. He set down the knife he was currently holding and ruffled Mabel's hair teasingly. "Nah, I don't think so, kiddo. Not according to what Susan said. She says that every time she gets a cut or somethin' some kind of black smoke stuff comes out of the wound and it heals almost instantly. But a hit to a more vital area, especially with iron, is likely to drain all the energy used to keep them here." He explained.

Dipper seemed to calm down a bit upon hearing this.

"It's that simple?" Robbie asked, looking slightly surprised. "Well that kinda takes all the fun out of it."

Wendy punched him on the arm lightly. "Shut up, dude! We're lucky that it won't be any harder to get rid of these guys. Right, Dipper?" She asked.

Dipper's mind had begun to wander, as it often did when he was anxious about something, but he snapped to attention as he heard Wendy say his name. "Huh? Oh-right!" He agreed after his mind had finally rejoined the real world and caught up with her question. Wendy gave him a small smile.

"Hey, everything's gonna be alright." She assured him.

Just as he was about to reply, suddenly Dipper remembered something. He looked over at his grunkle, his eyes wide. "Grunkle Stan! D-did you just say something about black smoke?" He asked.

Stan nodded his head, a bit confused. "Uh-yeah? Why?" The old man asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My dream!" Dipper exclaimed. "Wendy and Robbie fighting something…Black smoke! It all makes sense now!"

Stan let out a quiet gasp. "You're right. I didn't even realize…" He trailed off, shaking his head.

"Nice job, squirt. Now if only your visions would actually give us some useful information..." Robbie muttered.

Wendy elbowed him in the ribs. As soon as Robbie had said that, Dipper's head began to ache.

"Whoa, you feeling okay, kid?" Stan asked, his voice full of concern.

Wendy rushed over and caught Dipper just as he began to collapse to the ground. His eyes fluttered shut, and everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for taking such a long time to update this! I know exactly how I want to finish this story, but I'm just having a hard time figuring out how to get it there. Plus I've been working on some random one-shots on the side. Anyway, thank you to all the people who followed, favorited, and/or reviewed! I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I don't think I'll be writing much for a few weeks, but when I come back I'll do my best to finally get this finished!**


	8. Chapter 8: A Vexing Vision

For a while, Dipper was surrounded by nothing but the complete absence of light. The silent darkness almost felt soothing after all the stress he'd felt today. But before he could get too comfortable, Dipper's vision started to blur back in. For a split second, he thought he was waking up. Much to his dismay, he realized that wasn't the case.

It was a warm morning in Gravity Falls. The sun had just risen, casting shadows across the Mystery Shack. There was a slight breeze, causing the long grass in the forest to sway to an unheard melody. Everything seemed calm, normal even. But Dipper could tell there was something off about those shadows. There wasn't a single person in sight. The shadows belonged to no one. The undead teen in charge of keeping watch seemed completely oblivious to the shadows' existence. He didn't notice until the door to the Mystery Shack swung open, and one of the shadowy figures slipped inside.

A piercing scream cut through this vision, and suddenly the whole crew was in the forest. Dipper even caught a glimpse of himself. But he knew that wasn't the focus of this vision. He saw a shadowy figure looming over his sister. She had nothing but a tiny dagger to protect herself with, and she seemed to be frozen in fear. A quick black flash of a long, claw-like hand, and blood began to drip down from her shoulder. She let out another shill shriek, her eyes closing tightly from fear and pain. The shadow raised its arm up once again, and suddenly everything returned to darkness.

* * *

Dipper's eyes fluttered open. Though his vision was over, the fear caused by it still remained. He could hear his heart racing, and his hair seemed to be plastered to his forehead with sweat.

As he looked around he realized that he was now in the attic of the Mystery Shack lying in his bed. The rest of the group was all sitting across the room on Mabel's bed. He felt the dull comfort of reality surround him. Everything was okay…for now.

He heard Mabel giggling at something Gideon was saying, and for once he felt like Gideon and Robbie were the least of his concerns involving the two girls in his life. It seemed hard to believe that just a week ago the most stressful thing in his life had been Wendy dating Robbie. Now it actually seemed kind of like an advantage since Robbie was helping him out mostly thanks to Wendy.

Wendy was the first to notice that Dipper had awoken. She walked over and sat on the end of his bed, a calm smile on her face.

Robbie followed after her. They both seemed pretty unconcerned about the younger boy's apparent fear.

"Good morning, sunshine." Robbie laughed, sitting down beside his girlfriend. "Your vision actually gonna help us this time?"

Dipper was silent. Parts of his dream flashed into his head like a movie commercial, the claws tearing down on Mabel's shoulder, the shadowy figure creeping toward the Mystery Shack, the door slamming shut behind it. A chill ran down Dipper's spine as he remembered the piercing scream of his sister. It reminded him of his first vision. Though he'd only had it a few days ago, it seemed so distant now. So much had happened since then.

As he looked across the room toward his twin, every part of his being wanted to stay near her forever and protect her so he'd never have to worry about her getting hurt like that. But right now he just didn't have the energy to stand.

Wendy followed Dipper's gaze until she too was looking over at Mabel. She seemed to catch on immediately. Wendy could tell how worried he was, and she had a feeling that it had something to do with his vision. She put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder and tried her best to give him a reassuring smile, but she looked a bit nervous nonetheless. "Stan's off talking with Susan again." The redhead explained. "But don't worry, dude. Everything is gonna be just fine. I'm not sure any of us would be much help, but Stan'll be back in a few minutes if you wanna explain your vision or something."

Dipper nodded slowly, still trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just seen. He looked over at Mabel again, and saw that she was looking back at him now. Her face was drained of color, and her eyes were wide with fear…though maybe it was just his imagination. He closed his eyes, silently willing his visions to stop following him into his waking life.

* * *

**A/N: Blargh! Sorry for taking so long to update and then posting such a short, crappy chapter. I just wanted to update again before the month is over. I promise I'll get working on this story again soon. Thanks for sticking around long enough to get to this chapter. **

**Here's a secret code to show my gratitude! (hint, three letters back): **

LV PDEHO KLGLQJ VRPHWKLQJ?


	9. Chapter 9: Empathy

Not long after he'd woken up from his most recent vision, something weird started happening to Dipper. At first he tried to tell himself that he was simply unnerved because of his vision and the oncoming battle with the Society, or that he was just sick or something, but he could tell that it went beyond just that. His palms were sweating, and his head felt like it had been set on fire. The attic was warm, hot even, yet, aside from his head, his body felt freezing cold. His head was pounding and he felt like the entire earth was spinning beneath him. He didn't have the ability to stand up, or even to open his mouth and speak. The worst part of it all was that his vision kept blurring. And every time it did, Dipper swore he saw glimpses of the future. Not anything full-length or useful even, but just small, seemingly unimportant things; the waterfall for example, and someone's hand tightly clutching his. Mabel's maybe? He wasn't sure how he knew, but he could tell that these sights weren't just random things; they were definitely involved in the near future somehow. But every time he closed his eyes the visions went away.

Wendy, Mabel and the others were trying their best to keep calm; but even with his eyes closed Dipper could still tell they were nervous. Their worry seemed to linger in the air like fog. Just from the way that almost all of them seemed to be holding their breath, he could tell they were feeling just like he was: scared, anxious, and confused. And for some reason, that fact just scared him even more. It usually wasn't easy to worry Wendy or Mabel. Dipper had no clue what was going on, and he didn't like it one bit. It just added to the many unknown variables that made him unable to come up with a decent plan for when the Society attacked. He was used to always being able to come up with plans for everything, but this was one of the rare exceptions. And it hurt him even more to think about it. With that thought on his mind, Dipper silently slipped into a fevered type of unconsciousness, waiting for another vision to drag him from his sudden peace.

The crew remained silent for what seemed like forever. Robbie and Wendy were still sitting at the end of Dipper's bed. Wendy was looking at Robbie with a concerned look on her face. Mabel and Gideon sat across the room from the three of them, staring over at the now sleeping boy. Mabel looked as if she'd seen a ghost, but Gideon just looked unconcerned if anything.

"Dipper, you okay?" Wendy asked, biting her lip and gently putting her hand on Dipper's forehead. As she'd expected, his head was warm. In fact, it was more than just that; Dipper was so warm that it almost felt as if she's touched a hot stove top. The redhead gasped and looked back toward Robbie with wide eyes. "Holy crap, the little dude's like, on fire or something!" She whispered.

"Maybe he's just gettin' a cold or somethin', we shouldn't worry too much." Gideon told the red-head, shrugging indifferently and looking down at his nails. "There's too much goin' on right now to worry about him." Honestly, he couldn't care less if something was wrong with Dipper. Dipper was none of his concern. It was Mabel he was here to help, and only her that he cared about. He was bad at letting go of his grudges.

Wendy gave him a weary glance.

"I'm sure the kid's just tired and getting sick of having pointless visions. Let him get some rest." Robbie suggested, putting a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "I mean, a lot has been going on recently. He must just be stressing out or something."

Wendy sighed. "I don't think that's what's going on, dude." She told him. "I-I think he's unconscious. Something's not right... I'm worried about him."

Robbie just shrugged in response.

"What do you think, Mabey?" Gideon asked, looking over at the brunette girl.

Mabel didn't hear Gideon's question at first. She was deep inside the world of her own thoughts. Mabel rarely let herself really worry about things. She liked to go through life with a care-free smile no matter what was going on. But due to the past few weeks' events that was becoming far harder than normal. And right now, Mabel was scared. She was more scared than she'd ever been. Something had started happening to her shortly after Dipper's dream involving the vampire, and it had only progressed since then. At first it was nothing more than simply being able to pick up on people's, especially her brother's, vibes a bit better than normal, which helped her to know how they were feeling and what they were thinking. But after a while that ability became stronger and stronger; she began to be able to read people's minds a bit easier, and eventually, when Dipper was having visions, she knew exactly how he was feeling and all the thoughts going through his mind. During his most previous vision, she could hear everything. His internal monologue while he was figuring out what was happening in the vision and all the emotions it had caused him to feel had nearly overwhelmed her.

While she was thinking, Mabel had been turned toward the wall, nervously chewing on her hair with her knees pulled up tightly to her chest, trying to hide her expression from the rest of the group. But shortly after she heard her name she turned back toward them.

"Huh? I'm not worried. Not worried at all! Why would I be worried? Dipper's fine!" She said quickly, unsure of what Gideon had even asked. An obviously fake smile was plastered across her face. "Dipper's always fine! He'll be okay! We'll all be okay!"

"See, she thinks he's fine." Robbie told Wendy, pointing at the younger girl. "So that settles it. Stop your worrying, babe."

Wendy rolled her eyes and got up from Dipper's bed. She walked over and sat down beside Mabel, her expression serious, yet somehow seemingly calm. "Mabel, listen. It's alright if you're worried. Don't listen to those two dorks over there. I mean, guys can be pretty oblivious at times…" She sighed. "Something's obviously not right here. And if you know what's up, please tell us. It could seriously help us out…like, a lot."

Mabel's eyes widened for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure. She shook her head and frowned. "Nope, not a clue…I mean, I think we all know why he's worried. But that doesn't explain why he's sick and having such wacko visions all of a sudden."

Wendy nodded and was about to question her further, but just then Dipper groaned feverishly in his sleep and began to toss and turn in his bed. Robbie looked over at him, suddenly seeming just the slightest bit concerned. He stood up and backed away slightly from the younger boy's bed.

"Uh…Wendy, maybe you're right after all...I think something's up with this kid." The teen said, turning to face his girlfriend.

Mabel jumped up and rushed toward Dipper's bed, staring at her twin with eyes wide and full of worry. Her eyebrows were knit tightly together in concern.

"Mabel can't see her brother like this. It's just wrong." Wendy muttered, shaking her head.

Robbie looked over at her and sighed. He could tell Wendy was right. Seeing her brother in pain was making Mabel miserable. From what he knew about Mabel, she was usually able to put a smile on her face through anything. But right now she looked almost as if seeing Dipper in pain was causing her physical pain as well.

Robbie wasn't generally one to care too much about people, especially the Pines twins. But seeing Mabel like this made him start to realize just how serious this situation was. There was a group of people coming to attack them at any given time. Stan was nowhere to be seen and had been blatantly lying to them to comfort them. They had almost no chance against their enemy. And now Dipper was sick and for all he knew the kid could be dying. Without Dipper's help, Wendy- the girl Robbie loved more than anything in the world- could die. And to be honest, he was scared. He was Robbie V, the half-vampire who was so used to hiding his emotions. But right now he just didn't have the ability to hide them anymore.

Robbie walked up behind Mabel and put a hand on her shoulder in attempt to comfort her. "Mabel…I know that you know what's going on with Dipper's visions lately. And if you don't wanna tell the rest of us then, hey, that's fine by me." He said. "But I just want you to know that there's nothing you could say that we won't believe. And anything you do know would be a huge help to all of us."

Mabel glanced at him over her shoulder, and then looked down at the ground. Her eyes were full of tears and her face was scrunched up in pain. As a tear trickled down her cheek, she covered her face with her hands."I can feel what he's feeling…" She whispered, her voice muffled from her sweater sleeves. "And...and...it hurts. He's so afraid..."

Robbie glanced over at Wendy, his eyes wide with shock, and then he rushed out of the room.

* * *

The last thing Dipper remembered was his head pounding and his sight blurring in on something. He knew he must have blacked out again and he was having another premonition of the future. But this time everything seemed a bit different. It was far more painful than his past visions. In fact, this time he wasn't completely sure whether it was actually a vision or if it was just some sort of strange fevered dream his mind had conjured up.

Glints of silver slashed through clouds of black smoke, causing them to dissipate on contact. A split second of a red haired girl's face, smiling victoriously, emerged from the dark clouds, but it was soon replaced by a look of fear in her glimmering green eyes. A piercing, high-pitched scream cut through the silence yet again and was soon replaced by the sound of water crashing against rocks. He saw Mabel's hand intertwined with his as if holding on for dear life. Nothing made sense. And it hurt him so much.

* * *

**A/N: Holy crap it's been over a month since I've last updated! Sorry for taking so long to publish this chapter. I think I'm finally going to be able to finish this story soon! Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has favorited, followed, or reviewed! It really means a lot to me!**


	10. Chapter 10: All a Blur

"Dude, wait up!" Wendy called as she rushed out the door to the twins' room after her boyfriend, hoping to find out the reason behind his sudden and dramatic exit.

She found the dark-haired teen crouched down in a corner of the attic, looking a bit frenzied.

"Robbie, what's wrong?" Wendy asked, leaning down beside him, her tone gentle and hushed as if she was talking to a frightened child.

Robbie looked over at her slowly and then shook his head, not giving her the response she'd hoped for.

"Seriously, what is going on with you right now? Do you realize how much you just scared poor Mabel?" Wendy asked, desperate for an answer and a bit less gentle now.

Robbie blinked in surprise at the sudden change of her tone, but he still refused to answer her.

Wendy took a moment to calm herself down before she spoke again. "I've never seen you like this before. Tell me what's going on, dude."

Robbie sighed and let his shaggy hair fall in front of his face, trying in vain to hide how upset he was. "Don't you realize what's going on, Wendy? Do you not see it?!" He asked, his voice sounding much harsher than he'd thought it would.

Wendy backed up a bit, startled. "What are you even talking about?" She whispered.

"We're going to die, Wendy!" The boy replied, his voice no louder than a whisper. He shook his head, his eyes shut tight.

"Robbie, don't say crap like that! You don't know what'll happen!" Wendy argued, her eyes shifting into an almost accusing glare.

"Maybe I don't know for sure, but that's obviously what Dipper is having his wacked up visions about. I wouldn't be feeling so great either if I saw my sister and friends being brutally murdered! And why else would Mabel be so upset? If she knows what his visions are about, if she has even the slightest clue, then it all makes sense!" Robbie continued, raising his voice now. He looked up at Wendy, and the fright and worry in his expression was unmistakable, even behind his hair and how much he was trying to hide his emotions.

Wendy's eyes widened, and her gaze became distant. The more she thought about what Robbie was saying, the more it made sense.

"No…" She mumbled. "No, there's no way…"

* * *

When Dipper's eyes finally fluttered open, freeing him from the world of his feverish dreams, he felt even worse than when he'd last been awake. He felt like he'd just been hit by a ton of bricks. His head still pounded and ached, and he could feel himself trembling violently. When he first opened his eyes his vision was blurry, like an incredibly out-of-focus camera. Everything was just a blur of colors and the faint outline of shapes. In fact, even color wasn't very distinct at the moment. Everything seemed to blend into one single, massive blob. Dipper looked up at the ceiling and felt the room spinning around him. He felt almost like he was on one of those Tilt-a-Whirl rides at a carnival. He tried to focus his thoughts on what had happened in his most recent vision, but for some reason he just couldn't remember it. The memory kept slipping right out of his grasp. Something wasn't right.

He wanted to move. He wanted to be able to jump up and tell the others about what he'd seen and warn them so they could prepare; but not only did he not remember the vision, but he also had no control over any part of his body. It was as if it belonged to someone else. His limbs felt heavy, and he couldn't even find the strength to move his fingers.

"Dipper?! Dipper, are you awake for real this time?" He heard a voice ask. He could see a blur of color right beside him, but the voice sounded distant. He wondered if he was still dreaming. Though he could barely see, he could tell the person beside him was worried. He wondered how long he'd been asleep.

For a while he continued to stare at whoever was near him, trying to figure out who it was. Judging by the long hair, Dipper instantly assumed it was Wendy. He decided to stick with that, and moved on to other thoughts. He was so worried about his now-forgotten vision that he didn't even think to be flustered about how close Wendy was to him right now. He wanted to respond and tell her that he actually was awake, but he didn't have the ability. The person assumed to be Wendy leaned over his bed and he felt her hands on his face. They were incredibly cold against his skin, almost painfully cold; they were like ice cubes, and for a moment he was afraid his burning head would melt them.

"Oh man, that's not good…You're still super warm." Probably-Wendy whispered, her voice full of concern.

Dipper felt her run those ice cold hands through his hair for a moment, and if he were feeling well enough he would have been in a world of bliss. But right now he had other things on his mind.

For a while, all he focused on was trying to get his mouth to move. He needed to talk. It pained him to try to form sentences, and he suddenly wasn't sure how to make the transition from thought to spoken word. But eventually he couldn't focus his thoughts on that for much longer, and they began to wander elsewhere.

The more Dipper thought about it the more he realized that these past few visions had felt different, very different. They were more painful, and he had a much harder time dislodging the visions from his mind. Even the things he couldn't remember seemed to lurk in the back of his thoughts. It was almost as if they were trying to follow him into the waking world. He wished he had the ability to figure out why they were doing this all of a sudden. It was like there was a thick layer of fog surrounding the thoughts he was trying to get to.

Finally, after a few minutes of deep thinking and being fussed over by probably-Wendy, Dipper was able to think a tiny bit more clearly. Sure, it was still difficult, but it was getting better. He wished his vision would have the same clarity, but he was becoming too dizzy to leave his eyes open for long.

"Wendy…I'm so glad you're okay. And...and I'm so thankful that you're here to help us." He choked out as soon as he was able to open his mouth. He didn't sound like himself. His voice was hoarse and quiet, but he couldn't worry about that at the moment. "I didn't sleep through anything important, did I? I-I…Where's my sister?" He asked.

When he was done talking he heard Wendy make some sort of sound, a sound that seemed to be full of confusion and hurt, but he wasn't entirely sure why. After that she was silent. Something definitely wasn't right. Maybe he'd missed more than he thought.

* * *

Wendy took a while to regain her composure again before speaking. But when she finally did, the fear had left her eyes and was replaced by something else, determination.

"Listen up, dude. We're not going to die. None of us are. I won't let that happen…_You_ won't let that happen." She said. "Whatever Dipper is seeing in his vision, there's no way of telling whether or not it'll happen. I mean, the future can't already be all mapped out out. He's gotta be seeing just one way things could work. And that means things can change. We can make them change."

Robbie was silent for a while, as if he was thinking over what she had said.

"But what if we don't? What if every possible future sucks and we all die anyway? What if things still don't work out?" He finally asked.

"Things'll work out. Trust me. We'll make sure they do." Wendy said with a confident nod. She looked over at her boyfriend and saw the frantic look that was still in his eyes. No matter how hard he tried to hide how he was feeling, at this point it was worthless. She had always been able to read him like an open book, and right now that ability was amplified. "But, you know what, dude? If things somehow don't work out, if one of us dies or gets hurt or something, I-I just want you to know this…" She looked deep into his eyes and smiled at him reassuringly. "I love you like crazy, Robbie. I really do. I love you here and now. And no matter what happens, if we do survive all this crazy junk, I'll still love you. But I promise you, there's literally no reason to be afraid. Okay?"

Robbie stared at the red-haired girl in silence for a moment before scooting closer to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Those simple words had completely relieved him of his fears. He now had enough confidence to at least believe he'd make it through the rest of the day alive. And if he didn't...well, he wasn't so sure he'd care so much anymore.

He fought back a smile as he re-thought about the situation.

He was a half-vampire and he was helping a kid he had despised not too long ago go up against a group of shadowy former shape-shifters. He had gotten dragged into the situation after finding out Dipper also had one of the books, and agreed to help out only because he wanted to make sure his girlfriend stayed safe. The entire situation would have seemed ridiculous and almost comical had it not been happening to him.

Now he had no clue what would happen next. But he did know one thing: he was madly in love with this amazing girl in front of him.

He was Robbie V, and he was not afraid any more.

"The feeling is mutual, babe." He said, grinning. Robbie kissed Wendy on the forehead, and then took on an expression of utmost seriousness. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you…or even those dumb kids."

Wendy smiled, glad he wasn't acting quite so strange anymore.

"I mean, really, I'm a half-vampire. How hard could this possibly be?"

* * *

"W-Wendy? What's wrong? Did something happen to Mabel?" Dipper asked, a bit more desperately than before. Things weren't right. His thoughts were racing around to every possible thing that could have possibly happened to his sister. Did he miss the fight?

At that moment he looked behind Wendy, searching for Mabel, and saw who was probably Gideon sitting on the edge of Mabel's bed, looking stunned. Trying to focus on things for too long was giving Dipper an even worse headache. He wished his vision would just fix itself already.

Dipper closed his eyes and tried to analyze the situation. Judging by how Gideon and Wendy were acting, something had definitely happened to Mabel. And it was terrifying him to think of all the possibilities.

"N-no, that's not it…Nothing's wrong with...with Mabel." He heard Wendy reply suddenly. Her voice was dripping with sadness and confusion, and that worried Dipper even more.

"Where is she then?" Dipper pressed, his voice sounding almost angry. Before the girl could reply he heard the door shut. His eyes snapped open quickly.

Two more people entered the room. And When Dipper saw the unmistakable firey red hair on the shorter of the two, he was overcome with confusion. If Wendy was beside his bed, how could she just now be entering the room?

All at once, reality crashed upon him like a meteor plummeting into the surface of the earth. As the girl beside his bed looked up at him it was as if she went through some sort of transformation before Dipper's eyes. It wasn't Wendy. It was Mabel. Of course it was Mabel! There were tears in her eyes.

He felt a sudden wave of shock rush through his veins. How had he even made this mistake? Sure, his vision had been blurry, but shouldn't he have recognized his own sister?

"I'm right here, Dip." Mabel told him, smiling weakly. The fact that her brother hadn't recognized her had hurt. Especially since he thought she was Wendy. Of course he would want Wendy to be the one taking care of him. It hadn't surprised Mabel, but it had made her feel a tiny bit jealous for reasons she couldn't explain. Maybe he had only been seeing who he wanted to see. All she knew was that something was wrong with Dipper, and she wished his thoughts weren't so hazy so she could figure it out. It was like something was blocking her from getting in his mind all of a sudden.

Robbie, Wendy and Gideon just stood by in silence and confusion, unsure what was going on. The twins were so wrapped up in the situation that they hardly noticed the others were there.

Shortly after Mabel spoke to him, Dipper remembered his vision and he felt a jolt of fear. Worry crept through his body and seemed to permeate to his innermost being. At this point, he wasn't sure if his illness was what was causing him to tremble.

He saw the shadowy figures. He saw Wendy's worried eyes. He saw a hand intertwined with his and he heard the waterfall. All at once, things were becoming clearer.

"Dipper, what is it?" Wendy asked, walking over and wrapping an arm around Mabel's shoulders to comfort the, now-crying, younger girl.

"I-I think we're going to die. " Dipper whispered in response, closing his eyes again. "We're definitely not going to make it out of this alive."

The whole room went silent.

* * *

**Delayed A/N: ****I don't think I'll be working on this story anymore...After watching the season finale, all my headcanons seem a little silly, and honestly I don't feel like finishing this. However, if anyone wants to 'adopt' this story and finish it, I'm more than willing to let you! And, if you want, I could even tell you what few ideas I had in mind for the story's future if you would like to work with those. PM me if you're interested!**


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